The 26th Amendment: How the Voting Age Should Be Raised
The 26th Amendment: how the voting age should be raised
The 26th Amendment: how the voting age should be raised
Introduction
Numerous individuals have opposed the alteration of voting age, but other individuals believed that it ought to be raised. Individuals who think that the voting age ought not to be raised are the conservatives who want to maintain the ancient customs. Conformist individuals are normally thoughtful about alterations, and usually need to stay put devoid of any fundamental improvement (Tremmel & James, pp125-139). The proponents are normally the open-minded who require improvements relating to alterations that ought to be undertaken in the nation. Previous, individuals who were killed in wars devoid of attaining decisions on their respective via voting. The debate commenced after World War II when individuals began realizing that numerous fine young men are dying, and half of which never had any say about whether they supported their respective demise and the war. Voting entails expressing an individual's perception and voters often cast their respective ballots for the various candidates who support their opinions.
The 26th Amendment offers the right to the underlying citizens of the United States, with a minimum of 18 years in terms of age to participate in voting. But based on the recent events, particularly Parkland shooting there is a need to alter the existing Constitution in a bid to eliminate an ill-considered amendment that is deemed to have fostered more harm than good within the society (Bauböck, pp820-839). There is a need to repeal the underlying 26th Amendment by escalating the voting age to the previous 21 years.
Individuals consistently perceive voting as a fundamental right because it is stipulated within the US Constitution. Nevertheless, it is solely deemed to be a right once an individual is granted an appropriate privilege to exercise it. It is considered a privilege and rightly because the destiny of the country relies on its appropriate exercise. Changes to the Constitution as well as public offices rely on the individuals' vote. In case the individuals voting are young and irresponsible, then reasonably so will the government (Bauböck, pp820-839). By the year 1935 constitution established voting to be at 21 years and during the Vietnam War when the American of the 18 years old were sent to the battle, and the reason was that in case they could get slain for the country then they ought to possess a fundamental right to take part in voting. Therefore, the 26th Amendment was established by reducing the voting age to 18, which was enacted by the constitution in the year 1973.
In a bid to raise voting-age students ought to be enhanced to think critically regarding the history as well as the significance of the 26th Amendment, which typically permitted the right about the vote of the American citizens aged 18 years and above. Moreover, people ought to analyze the primary source document, learn adequately about the existing the 26th Amendment by reading its ratification and consequently thinking critically concerning voting rights.
In case required, offering extra background about the history of voting rights as well as Constitutional Amendments is mandatory in a bid to enable reviewing or familiarizing the people with the history of the push to relatively lower the voting age. This activity will inform students and individuals that in April 1970, Congress reduced the voting age to 18 as a fundamental section of legislation to outspread the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but that attempt to lower the age had commenced decades earlier. Moreover, within December 1970, the Supreme Court decided that the government had typically overstepped its underlying legislative bounds. This was proceeded to swift enactment by the Congress the proposed 26th Amendment.
Teenagers are perpetually attaining television coverage in giving their opinions, particularly when they agitate for gun control has confirmed that their respective poorly considered political perceptions ought not to be possessing binding power over any individual. Moreover, this elaborates on the reason they ought not to be granted any type of authority on the fundamental matters about national importance.
Following the student protests against gun violence within the school has reintroduced calls to raise voting age. But it would be a fault to decrease the voting age at the expense of raising it. Demonstrating is deemed not to be similar to voting, which demands a relatively higher level regarding civic responsibility as well as knowledge. Moreover, test outcomes depict that numerous students lack a fundamental comprehension of the structure and operation of the U.S. government. Numerous youths are not even ware the names of their respective U.S. senators as well as the fundamental ways to amend the Constitution. Rather than reducing voting age, they ought to emphasize more on advancing civics education.
Most of the students campaigning against gun control after mass shooting within Parkland is deemed to be a challenging stereotype about the American kids, who are not fully informed on the consequences of the law since they are sluggish and dispassionate within politics. Election of lawmakers who are mandated with making fundamental decisions concerning gun control and supplementary issues impacts their respective lives and the society as a whole (Bauböck, pp820-839). Thus, the voting age ought to be raised to enable students who are fully mature and have a comprehensive understanding of the laws but not the ones that are lazy and uninformed on fundamental issues.
Voting is undertaken calmly within the booth with sufficient deliberation. Researches depict that young individuals are not capable to gather and process fundamental, weigh both pros and cons, as well as reason rationally with facts. Moreover, teenagers might occasionally make bad premeditated choices, more often than adults. There also exists a civil argument about permitting younger teens to take part in voting because they aid in significantly escalating voter turnout, but leads to electing wrong leaders. This is deemed to be significant since there exists evidence that individuals who do not vote the first duration are less qualified to cast ballots regularly in prospect. Considering that 18 years to 24 years olds possess the lowest turnout of any underlying group within the United States, permitting individuals to commence voting at roughly 21 years might enhance that escalation of prospect turnout (Cheng, p653). Moreover, the present push to raise the voting age is motivated by the underlying outrage that those most susceptible to the school shooting have no power regarding the way such atrocities are normally best prevented.
The widespread feature of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement, which presents the young individuals might be cognizant of typically offends the actions of numerous young individuals, who are mandated with taking part in voting (Fraga, pp19-34). Young teenagers are deemed to be uninformed and inconsistent and easily manipulated by the underlying partisan activists, which normally makes them have partial knowledge and under-developed judgment on vital issues affecting the community that requires a conscious voting process.
Regarding the prospect of permitting these young individuals to vote, it is purely based on the Constitution that never initially establish any regulation about the voting age, which was left to the individual states. Moreover, the 14th Amendment in an attempt to safeguard the right to take part in the voting, assured it openly for the citizens 21 and above, even though certain states, as well as localities, typically select to establish a relatively lower age (Tremmel & James, pp125-139). Thus, it was not until the 26th Amendment within the year 1971 that states were needed to establish a voting age of 18 years.
This supposed impetus was massively based on the argument that in case 18-year-olds could be enlisted to fight within Vietnam, they ought to be capable to take part in voting. Nevertheless, U.S. participation within that very war was already meandering down. The draft never endured for a longer duration, and an entire volunteer military has long since confirmed its advantages. The actual motive regarding the amendment was deemed to be appealing temptation to the gerrymander the electorate through broadening it to incorporate a massive cohort of electorally mobilized and corresponding left-leaning young individuals in a bid to sway the vote toward Democrats (Bauböck, pp820-839). Nevertheless, presently the most dependable left-leaning group regarding the electorate is deemed to be between 18 and 24 years old. The attempt to reduce the voting age to 16 years is thus a transparent effort to perpetuate this gerrymandering.
The proponents that require young voters to know that they are effortlessly influenced and indoctrinated. Through necessity, and chiefly within the current educational system, students typically tend to study fundamental things in theory from the books, as well as from cautiously chosen and sanitized textbook at the expense of relying on the deep research and personal experience. Consequently, this grants the individuals who distribute such theory a disproportionate influence. Presently, political indoctrination within the schools is deemed to be extremely bad and such young teenagers ought not to be granted direct power to decide on the fundamental election results.
When young individuals move toward 21 years and beyond they gain sufficient knowledge regarding the history, economics, political philosophy as well as personal experience about living self-sufficiently (Fraga, pp19-34). Moreover, they begin to see massive politicians, attain a little extra perspective, engage in a few run-ins with real utilized-car salesmen and perhaps attain a relatively better capability to spot a con artist. They also get the fundamental extra opportunity to transform from under the tutelage of the underlying parents as well as teachers and think independently.
Above all, they also manage to attain life experience within a few specific areas that the majority have never encounter before attaining the age of 18 such as recognizing the way the world operates, handling a household, working and meeting the requirement of a certain budget, and managing businesses. In the United States, the average age of a person taking a first full-time job is deemed to be roughly 19 years, which is succeeded by finding own house and consequently getting married (Cheng, p653). Moreover, the first house purchase normally waits until roughly 33, which would be considered to the average age for the capability to vote in case people were to adhere to the old rule that pertains to the restricted the franchise in regards to the property owners. The chief purpose of this very rule was to ensure that voters had an adequate direct personal stake within the policies they were voting for.
The entire milestones, as well as life experiences, are considered to materially alter an individual's attitudes toward taxes, regulation, education, law enforcement, morality, as well as personal responsibility through fundamental ways that has not been experienced by 18 year old teenagers who sufficiently do not yet take vital responsibility for handling housework. These children are much more likely to look at politics in a way that is flippant, superficial, and motivated more by a desire to impress their peers than by considered thinking (Fraga, pp19-34). Nevertheless, this does not imply that adults are never influenced by the existing partisanship and do not act in irresponsible as well as ill-informed means when taking part in voting. The chief aim of actually not possessing pure democracy but a constitutional republic designed in the United States was mainly to dampen the public's tentative passions and correspondingly safeguard them from despairing their respective crucial rights because of the influence by the demagoguery of the tensed moment. Moreover, this also taken care of within the Bill of Rights that incorporates a Second Amendment.
In summation, dampening political passions as well as reduction of the sway of the demagogues is deemed as the chief reason for increasing the voting age. It ought to be taken passed the age of 21 in a bid to make it relatively harder for a single political party to triumph within any elections.
Work Cited
Bauböck, Rainer. "Morphing the Demos into the right shape. Normative principles for enfranchising resident aliens and expatriate citizens." Democratization 22.5 (2015): 820-839.
Cheng, Jenny Diamond. "Voting Rights for Millennials: Breathing New Life into the Twenty-Sixth Amendment." Syracuse L. Rev. 67 (2017): 653.
Fraga, Bernard L. "Redistricting and the causal impact of race on voter turnout." The Journal of Politics 78.1 (2016): 19-34.
Hill, David. American voter turnout: An institutional perspective. Routledge, 2018.
Mackie, Thomas T., and Richard Rose. The international almanac of electoral history. Springer, 2016.
Tremmel, Jörg, and James Wilhelm. "Democracy or epistocracy? Age as a criterion of voter eligibility." Youth Quotas and other Efficient Forms of Youth Participation in Ageing Societies. Springer, Cham, 2015. 125-147.
