Proposition 4

[Reach]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

It seems to me like a good solution would be to drop the age at which people are considered adults. It's funny how we consider people who are old enough to have babies 'children'. When I was 14, I certainly wasn't well-informed about voting, but I was certainly mature and smart enough to vote. To myself, I seem just as intelligent then as I am now, except that now I've just had a lot more time to think about things and learn things. My world view has not changed except to become bitter :-p I even think I was more responsible then than I am now.
If people were considered legally as adults at age 16, I think that would benefit not only voting, but things like consensual sex, mandatory schooling, video game ratings, etc. I don't think that it should be necessary to pursue a government class. In grade 8 I believe it's part of the canadian curriculum to learn the basics about government.

x_afterdawn_x: CBC disagrees with you. They had a stat showing that in the 2006 federal election, b/w 60-70% of people voted.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/s...r-turnout.html

Voter turnouts are at a record low.


As for the actual topic, it's an interesting dilemma. The obvious answer is that every case is different, and whether or not someone is mature and knowledgeable enough to be considered an 'adult' and to make these types of decisions varies greatly from person to person. On the same note, it's impossible to have a legal system that functions on a case to case analysis with respect to this sort of thing.

It seems reasonable that people under the age of 18 could vote if they took classes in politics or something along those lines. In reality, it would probably be beneficial if everyone had to be knowledgeable of the real issues and party platforms before they were allowed to vote, and from there anyone of any age that was qualified could vote. Otherwise, under the current system, I think it's a rather large leap of faith to suggest that democracy actually works well.

With regards to the bill, I don't agree, as I don't think it's necessary and it only goes on to restrict freedoms. I'm pro choice in all respects in issues like this, and I don't see why anyone should be forced to go through their parents in an abortion situation simply because their chronological age falls below an arbitrary standard.