Lower-tier presidential campaigns have long been known to float novel ideas as a way to try and separate themselves from the rest of the pack. It's no different this year on the crowded GOP side, where would-be upper-tier candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has proposed that the minimum voting age be raised from the current 18 to 25. With exceptions, of course:
…unless a citizen 18 or older is enrolled in the military, works as a first-responder or passes the same civics test given to immigrants seeking American citizenship. Such a change could only be implemented by passing a constitutional amendment.
Well, it is an idea. Not a very good one, of course, as it creates separate classes of voters. But it's an idea nonetheless…nevermind that the chances of such an amendment being adopted are vanishingly small.
But let's indulge the idea for a moment to see what thinking has gone into it. Ramaswamy's rationale for a tier voting age population runs like this:
“There needs to be some civic experience you need to have gone through in order to actually vote,” Ramaswamy said. “That experience could be living seven years as an adult and voting at age 25. That experience could be direct service to the country or some first responder service,” or, he added, passing a civics test.
Such requirements aren't just unnecessary but antithetical to the American experience, which is one of broadening the franchise rather than shrinking it.
Or more importantly, requiring that one must serve the state before being allowed to vote. Demanding government service, even under the flimsy guise of a “civic experience” ought to be off-limits for any party that positions itself as a defender of individual liberty and freedom. But such is the place the GOP finds itself today.
You must serve to vote. But to pay taxes? Well…the tax collectors for the state will eagerly take (and require under penalty of law) your tax payments at whatever age in order to keep the state running.
But what about that other requirement – that if one passes the civics test given to immigrants, then you will be allowed to vote at 18?
That, too, is nonsense. While there can be an honest debate over the need for more rigorous civics instruction in schools, requiring a test in order to vote should sound very familiar to those readers of a certain age.
Yes, you heard it – literacy tests were used in the Jim Crow South to prevent Blacks, poor whites, and anyone else who may be undesirable from casting a vote. The 1965 Voting Rights Act banned literacy tests. They should remain that way – for literacy, civics, and whatever else crosses the mind of a would-be presidential nominee.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Welfare Recipients (including corporate welfare) should be disenfranchised.
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Something needs to be done to encourage voter competency.
If idiots weren’t allowed to vote, our country probably wouldn’t be in the big mess it is today.
It’s not so much having served that counts as it is having seen the corruption of the system from the inside. I think everyone should do some type of public service before being allowed to vote.
Radical idea Yes
i believe that everyone should pass the same civics test that we require legal immigrants seeking US citizenship to pass. I also think that no one younger than 21 should be given the right to vote. Forget giving service in the military or as a first responder. Those jobs are reserved for the willing and should not be forced on those who are unwilling
Yes totally out of the box thinking but really no different than some States like – PA that automatically register someone onto the State’s Voter Registration list for just getting a State Drivers License. Does not ask if you are a US Citizen just signs you up to vote !!
The way the Founders set up the System, those who voted were required to have some skin in the game.
One of the worst mistakes made was to lower the voting age to 18. I wasn’t ready to vote at that age and did not even register until I was out of college and working in the real world. I think I was 28 years old and was actually beginning to have an interest in US politics. Until then, I was too busy trying to get my college degree and then, working 50-60 hour weeks. I certainly didn’t have time to keep up with the news, let alone politics. Until you know what your stake in the game is, you cannot really understand what the rules are and how to play. 18 year olds, by and large (and yes, there are always exceptions) are still teenagers and not ready to consider all the nuances and dirty tricks that politicians and their campaigns will pull to get elected and stay in office. Heck! Most adults don’t seem to understand or recognize that, these days. Probably why we are in the mess we are in.
Good luck getting 2/3rd of the states going along with this
It’s a great plan, and actually conforms to the original requirements in the constitution. We don have a democracy, we have a constitutional republic. Voting is not a right, it’s a privilege accorded to qualified and responsible citizens.
He does have one good point. Drug, alcohol, and even gun-buying ages keep getting raised by blue areas of the country, while they want kids at 16 to vote. Maybe all needs to be raised to 25.
Voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in July 1971. At a minimum, it should go back there. Just like alcohol sales and many other “adult” requirements since that experiment started. The exception today would be the same as the valid reason in 71, military. You should be able to vote for or against someone who will take us to war. Or maybe not. Remember how Trump was going to get us into WWIII? Instead he got us out of conflicts and the current “nice” grandpa is just about there? I think I did a better job of keeping my 18 yr olds out of trouble with curfews and grounding than they could have done on their own.