Posted 3/09/2004 04:43:00 PM by Douglas

This is just stupid enough to pass.

A proposed amendment to California's constitution would give 16-year-olds a half-vote and 14-year-olds a quarter-vote in state elections.

State Sen. John Vasconcellos, among four lawmakers to propose the idea on Monday, said the Internet, cellular phones, multichannel television and a diverse society makes today's teens better informed than their predecessors.

That sounds about right. After 4 hours of Nick & Jessica and the midget dating shows on Fox, the informed electorate needs to head out to the polls to determine the fate of this great society.

"When we gave the vote to those who didn't own property, then to women, then to persons of all colors, we added to the richness of our democratic dialogue and our own nation's integrity and its model for the world," Vasconcellos said, calling it time to further extend the vote.

To compare the "youth vote" to the sufferage of women, blacks, and even non-land owners is absolutely absurd. Granted, 18 may be an arbitrary line to draw, too, but why 14? Why don't 10, or 8? There's a reason people this age are legally dependent on adults, and Assemblyman Haynes does a good job at summing it up:

Said Assemblyman Ray Haynes: "There's a reason why 14-year-olds and 16-year-olds don't vote. They are not adults. They are not mature enough. They are easily deceived by political charlatans."

Well let's not go nuts there, Assemblyman. If we exclude immature people easily swayed by political charlatans, then we won't have any voters, would we?

But won't somebody please think of the children? What do they think? I think Robert sums up all our fears:

"If we could vote, politicians would see us as votes, not just kids, and they would take our issues seriously," said Robert Reynolds, a student at Berkeley High School.

But don't you get it, Robert, you are just a kid. When I was a high school senior, all I wanted to do was drive around, drink beer, find some easy chicks and then take a nap. And while none of that might have changed, I'm now a mature pillar of the community (scary, eh?) that realizes that there's virtually no difference between the two parties, and voting is a total waste of time.