Did you hear that Austria gave 16-year-olds the right to vote in national elections?”
Democracy has never been about expertise. If it were, none of us would be allowed to vote. Laws are always wildly inconsistent. Sixteen year olds can’t sign contracts, but in most places they can drive, and that’s putting deadly force in their hands. Personally, I’d like to see young people have a bigger voice in their government. Young people don’t get to set the agenda, because all of their representatives are going to be older, much older, and much richer. By increasing the numbers of young voters, it would give more incentive for them to actually listen to what the government is doing rather than simply accepting it as being against them. That makes a vicious circle, since young voters assume they’ll be ignored even if they vote, so they don’t vote. That gives less incentive for the government to care about their futures. And so they spend money like water, putting the debt off until those same young people grow up.
