Should young people be encouraged to JUST vote?

[Syringer]

I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel all that comfortable with people my age, who've never opened up a newspaper, and don't have the slightest clue as to what's happening out there..helping determine who will be our next leader will be.

Case in point, the CA governor election..not to say that Arnold isn't a qualified/unqualified candidate, but the fact that many uninformed youngsters will strictly vote for him SOLELY on his celebrity status bothers me.

I mean it's a nice idea and all to have everyone out there vote, but we shouldn't be encouraging them JUST to vote, but rather to actually..learn a thing or two before voting. Being 18 years old does not make anyone educated enough to make a decision about how they want their lives run. If mentally challenged people aren't allowed to vote, because their judgment might not be "good enough", I suppose to make an informed decision, why do they encourage someone in high school who knows nothing of the real world to vote?

This is definitely not to say that all 18-year-olds shouldn't vote, or that all middle aged people are..but simply to target youngsters to go to a poll without knowing anything about what they're voting for is ridiculous in my view. We should encourage them to actually learn things about what they're voting on, BEFORE they actually do vote.

 

[Bulk Beef]

Well duh

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

If they're anything like their parents, you only have to worry about 25% of them at most.

 

[Ameesh]

many of the adults imo are uninformed when they vote

 

[radioouman]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
many of the adults imo are uninformed when they vote

THis is true.

 

[kranky]

I used to encourage younger people to vote but no more, because they are as a group spectacularly uninformed. Few of them read newspapers or watch news on TV. The only time I have ever seen them involved in any type of local politics is when they want a bicycle lane marked off on some road and then they show up en masse at the council meeting to plead their case.

So I no longer encourage them to vote. It would be best if people were informed and then showed up to vote (things would be a lot better!), but if people aren't going to have a clue I'd prefer they stay home, and let my vote have a larger impact. I do get to talk with college students, and people just out of college, fairly often so I feel justified in drawing this conclusion. I'm not putting anyone down, that's just the way it is.

If you ever wonder why senior citizens get what they want from politicians, the reason is: they show up to vote.