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From Wiki:
"The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and three-fourths of the states ratified it by July 1, 1971.
Various public officials had supported lowering the voting age during the mid-20th century, but were unable to gain the legislative momentum necessary for passing a constitutional amendment.
The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 1960s, driven in part by the military draft held during the Vietnam War. The draft conscripted young men between the ages of 18 and 21 into the armed forces, primarily the U.S. Army, to serve in or support military combat operations in Vietnam.[1] A common slogan of proponents of lowering the voting age was "old enough to fight, old enough to vote".[2] "
If you are old enough to be drafted - 18
then you are old enough to:
- enter a contract
- get married
- serve on a jury
- smoke
- vote
- buy a gun
- buy booze
- porn
--- note in some places (in certain establishments), an 18 yr old can be fully naked, but can't drink there.
Note the people didn't move the draft age up to 21.
And. some have proposed dropping the voting age ...
IIRC, justification for raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 is that 18 yr olds are more likely to give booze to those under 18 .... 18 for many is still High School
A question I ask from time to time:
When is someone an adult?
Religious -- 13/14 Bar Mitzva, confirmation,
Driving 16 (14 if on a farm)
...
there are a number of moving standards. I think I saw one in another thread this week - about charging children as adults in violent crimes.
We can't have 300 million standards -- when is a person mature
So what can we have, and why isn't there just one?
You may know some as I do, where 27 is not old enough to be a functioning mature adult.
* not to include those with diagnosed mental illness, which still needs to have consideration.
You can look up the current Brittney Spears conservatorship controversy, which I think is on point here.
"The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and three-fourths of the states ratified it by July 1, 1971.
Various public officials had supported lowering the voting age during the mid-20th century, but were unable to gain the legislative momentum necessary for passing a constitutional amendment.
The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 1960s, driven in part by the military draft held during the Vietnam War. The draft conscripted young men between the ages of 18 and 21 into the armed forces, primarily the U.S. Army, to serve in or support military combat operations in Vietnam.[1] A common slogan of proponents of lowering the voting age was "old enough to fight, old enough to vote".[2] "
If you are old enough to be drafted - 18
then you are old enough to:
- enter a contract
- get married
- serve on a jury
- smoke
- vote
- buy a gun
- buy booze
- porn
--- note in some places (in certain establishments), an 18 yr old can be fully naked, but can't drink there.
Note the people didn't move the draft age up to 21.
And. some have proposed dropping the voting age ...
IIRC, justification for raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 is that 18 yr olds are more likely to give booze to those under 18 .... 18 for many is still High School
A question I ask from time to time:
When is someone an adult?
Religious -- 13/14 Bar Mitzva, confirmation,
Driving 16 (14 if on a farm)
...
there are a number of moving standards. I think I saw one in another thread this week - about charging children as adults in violent crimes.
We can't have 300 million standards -- when is a person mature
So what can we have, and why isn't there just one?
You may know some as I do, where 27 is not old enough to be a functioning mature adult.
* not to include those with diagnosed mental illness, which still needs to have consideration.
You can look up the current Brittney Spears conservatorship controversy, which I think is on point here.