Should the Voting Age Be Raised to 28?
Is voting an inherent right? Or is it something that should be “earned” with maturity?
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I was scrolling through Twitter on Election Day afternoon when I came across Peter Schiff’s tweet, which I’ve screenshot above.
If you aren’t familiar with Schiff, he’s a popular gold bug, media commentator, and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital. He famously hates Bitcoin, considers all digital currencies Ponzi schemes, and is often regarded as an economic “doom and gloomer.”
He’s 59 years old, lives in Puerto Rico for the tax benefits, loves gold, has been warning of an imminent global economic collapse for almost two decades now, and favors fiscal conservatism.
He’s the quintessential Boomer’s Boomer.
I like Peter Schiff somewhat. I think he’s right on many things. Not Bitcoin. But I mostly agree with his overall ethos.
Which is why his tweet on voting yesterday afternoon got me thinking.
Admittedly, the knee-jerk response to his proposal to raise the voting age to 28 is a resounding “No!” It seems preposterous on its face. How dare you suggest taking the right to vote away from people who are old enough to join the military and die for their country.
You can drink at 21. You can sign up for six figures of student loan debt at 18, even if you’re going to a posh private art school to learn fingerpainting. You pay taxes even when you’re still a minor. You can sign business deals at 18.
So why should you not be able to vote starting at 18?
I can remember graduating high school in the thick of the 2000 presidential election, and actively looking forward to casting my first ballot. I even volunteered to work for the GOP on a street reconstruction project, as the convention was being held in Philadelphia, where I lived. The idea of being able to have even a very small say in who ran the government was an exciting prospect for me as a newly-minted adult.
Of course, that election became infamous for being undecided until December, hung up by “hanging chads” in Florida. George W. Bush slipped through with a razor-thin margin of victory, thanks in part to a Supreme Court ruling…
