Voting is an important activity in a democracy. Elections decide the fate of a country for a specific period apart from its long term impact. In most countries the voting age is around 18 years.The youth are a volatile group who are swayed by personal
considerations rather than public good. In my opinion these
young people are not mature enough to choose the right
candidate. Being children themselves how can they choose a
suitable adult who is going to govern. Youth are fascinated by
money, cinema and other entertainment. They may not
understand what public good is.
Age is the only variable which can be universally applied. All other specifications such as "married people" etc. etc. may
become highly subjective. When people reach certain age say 21
years or more it is likely that they might have been exposed to
the complexities of life and therefore will be in a position to
understand what is personal and how it affects the interest of the
public. Understanding the functioning of societies is the most
important aspect that will decide the quality of voting.

Voting rights began at twenty one before the Vietnam war.

The argument at that time to lower it to eighteen, was the age limit of the draft, or conscription.
The minimum age for that process was lowered to eighteen yo.

So there was a reason to lower the voting age, along with lowering the legal age to consume alcohol.

The voting age is tied to a set of circumstances, re above example.

I see no successful challenge to the current standard as it stands.
There is no appetite for it.
It's not going to happen.

Dan

It appears to me that voting, & government were both more rational & successful, when voting was restricted to only male property owners.

I recall some admiral, with a lot more savvy than the current top brass said, the only place for women is in the kitchen, barefoot & pregnant.

Not sure I agree with the pregnant bit.

>The youth are a volatile group who are swayed by personal considerations rather than public good.
I don't think that's more true of the youth than any other group. And there's the added complication that older people believe the pubic good aligns with their personal considerations even when, by any objective standards, it doesn't.

If this board is anything to go by, the older generation are a much greater threat to the public good. They're out of touch with reality, and wilfully ignore all the evidence that challenge what they already believe.

The LNP have no problem using our youth as cannon fodder in wars, lower the voting age to 16. While we're at it apply a sinility test to all old farts and take the vote of them, particularly those who make derogatory comments about women.

I'm reposting a comment that I've made earlier (jsut before last fed election) regarding this issue:

Since it's election time I thought I'd bring up the issue of the voting age. Commonly it is suggested that it should be lowered to 16 years. Last year this was raised in the senate by a private bill. This bill and the public comments about it covered some of the standard reasons for lowering it. eg:
- The fact that 16-17 year olds are able to work full time and pay taxes and yet not vote on the policies that affect them (but it should be noted that in reality that it is only a small and decreasing minority of youth at this age who do work full time)
- Recognise that young people are disengaged from politics and should be recognised as a constituency in order to foster civic participation.
- Also other reasons such as human rights under UN treaties or that they can be punished for crimes the same as adults, etc.

But against this is the argument that the age should be raised instead of lowered. Reasons for this include:
- Human development of the brain means that mental maturity is not achieved until early/mid twenties,
- Because the complexity of society has continually increased it takes longer for adolescents/young adults to experience and appreciate the intricacies and interdependence of it (eg: today's society is vastly different from even 40 years ago- due to multiculturalism, environmentalism, feminism and all the other "-isms", technology, increases in specialization and division of labour, the increased interconnection of countries by trade and other global issues, etc. The majority of 16-20 year olds simply haven't had enough contact with a broad enough cross section of society to form well-informed opinions of many of these important issues.
- Youth/young adults are more dependent on their providers for longer then previously- it is typical that a young person will not achieve full independence until into their early twenties.