Blog 8

            In Give Youth a Voice Expansion, the author argues that the voting age of the United States should be lowered to age sixteen because they are at a time where they are learning about the government. This is not a good idea, because if they are still just starting to learn about the government, they may not have a strong enough education to form a true opinion about what is best for the country. Since this age group is also just beginning to be “exposed to adult-like situations,” they have not had too many yet on their own, and are therefore still learning about becoming a productive adult to society.

Although many other countries have a lower voting age, the United States has a better government than most if not all of those others. This is partially due to the fact that the voting age is higher here and the voters are more educated than those of other countries. As was mentioned in the blog, many people do not want sixteen-year-olds to be allowed to vote since they are “not focused on the actual government and what is happening.” This seems like a rather large problem if people who do not know what is going on with the government are voting, since they may not make the best decisions for the country. Another potential problem is that these younger voters may not make decisions that would benefit the country, but just themselves. Since the blog claims that 16 and 17-year-olds have “less knowledge” but the same “motivation to participate in politics” as older age groups, it seems like an easy decision not to let them vote, as they would decrease the average political knowledge of American voters.

The end of the blog claims that the voting age should be lowered to sixteen so that the younger population can live in a world that they created, but if the voting age remains at eighteen, not only will they still be able to impact the world they will live in, but they will do so by voting with more knowledge. This will actually end up creating a better world for them to live in than it would have been if they were able to vote without important political knowledge at a younger age.