#votingage — Public Fediverse posts

#RonnieSalt is, if anything, good at rubbing salt on our political wounds but it’s theraputic even if it stings a little. Bear with her and read it through, laugh while you cringe, and shake your head at the cruel reality it portrays.

To boot, she makes a good point:
“In Australian politics right now, we’ve entered Saturday Night Live levels of parody. And just like SNL, the only people laughing are the players. If you add up the cost of supporting the crop of people in politics mentioned here, most of whom were paid to represent you, you might come close to over $6 million a year. Add in the cost of corruption commissions and police time spent on either bashing their own citizens or investigating histrionic allegations, and you’re getting closer to $10 million, $12 million and counting. If you’re wondering why you can’t save for a deposit for a house, or why your job stacking shelves in Woolworths isn’t getting you anywhere, why not consider a career in politics in Australia?”

My answer is simple enough, I couldn’t possibly imagine myself licking the boots of the narcisist leadership I’d be subjected to — in any Party. As an independent… life would be too hard for poor ol’ me and I’ve got better things to do in my retirement. As A younger lad, I considered it but lacked the ‘lived expereince’ necessary to truly represent a constituency. All I’ve ever done is vote (as you do) and still castigate myself for not voting informed 100% all the time. I know what I was like at 16… don’t ask… but I cannot in all honesty say that had I been required to vote then, I’d not have had the maturity to do my civic duty the justice it demands. Are today’s 16 yo better able to deliver? I honestly don’t know. I have no relationships with young people these days.

I will not apologise for the spoiler, but Ronnie’s punch line points at the reader and lets them know who’s is at fault for allowing this circus to go on.

“You can tell people to get fucked in country town halls for $100 an hour and make up stories about assaults that never happened, drive around in a ski mask, tell shit sexist jokes that weren’t funny even at the Ferntree Gully pub in 1987, and stay up all night worrying about the colour of your weekly rubbish bin lid – all for the price of millions of dollars a year of money that isn’t yours.
This is Australian politics in 2026. Trivial side-shows and grift-maxxing on a grand scale and yes, all of it is a joke. But while we keep paying for it, the joke is always on us.”

https://theshot.net.au/uncategorized/our-politics-is-a-farce-and-youre-paying-for-the-tickets/

#AusPol #Voting #PartyPolitics #PartyDuopoly #PoliticianPerks #PoliticianRemuneration #Junkets #WealthyBenefactors #Oligarchy #Lobbyists #PoliticalDonations #ElectionsMatter #YourVoteMatters #PowersBehindTheThrone #AusElections2028 #SocialDemocracy #DumbElectorate #CivicDuty #InformedVoting #VotingAge #PoliticalCareer

@moz
It is one thing to lower the voting age — on the condition that our education system has truly prepared young adults to make informed decisions using taught critical thinking skills (looking around at this cohort, I fear the lessons have not been absorbed as well as they should have). It is another to blunder into classic cases of #Ageism. Guilty Mr Keane!

Not only does it besmirch the idea of #democracy (just as, in other ways, positive discrimination and gender quotas do), but the idea of skewing votes by differentiating the value of a vote in accordance with some harebrained scheme such as using *years lived on the planet* as a predicate is a thin splintering wedge into our democratic institutions and systems. I’m not having any of it. And whiule I enjoy reading Mr Keane on Crickey News, this article is the germ of a shallow thinking IMO.

#AusPol #VotingAge #MandatoryVoting #PreferencialVoting #AllVotesAreEqual in a social democracy. The threat of #TyrranyOfTheMajority in any social democracy is tempered by preferencial and mandatory voting in Australia. #CivicDuties #CivicStudies #Education

Voting Age in the TDG

The TDG can bring younger voters into the process:

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=31&id=480

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#votingage

Voting Age in the TDG

We can go younger--and they will still cast a wise vote:

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=31&id=480

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#votingage

Voting Age in the TDG

This new democracy can probably go to 14. And 14-year-olds will vote quite wisely:

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=31&id=480

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#votingage

Voting Age in the TDG

This new democracy can go lower--and not suffer from any possible youthful immaturity:

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=31&id=480

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#votingage

Voting Age in the TDG

The TDG can lower its voting age---because young people can vote wisely in TDG elections:

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=31&id=480

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#votingage

Voting Age in the TDG

We can go younger!

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=31&id=480

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#votingage

I had a letter in the Newcastle Herald today:

Older not always wiser

I was bemused by John Cooper's arguments against lowering the voting age to 16 ("Lowering the voting age", Letters, 25/7). He thinks only older people have the wisdom to vote responsibly. Yet I have encountered many adults who were utter political dills and who really should not be let loose in a voting booth. And if one were to accept John Cooper's argument, is it logical that only people older than him should vote, because by definition, they are smarter than he is?
Michael Gormly, Islington #auspol #votingage

Voting age to be lowered to 16 by next general election

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c628ep4j5kno

#HackerNews #VotingAge #Lowered16 #YouthVoting #DemocraticEngagement #NextGeneralElection

Voting Age in the TDG

We can let 14-years-olds in this democracy. And they will vote wisely!

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=31&id=480

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#votingage

Amid a litany of complaints over younger people having scarce interest in politics in Japan, a movement to expand the next generation’s access to the political arena is slowly gaining traction. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/04/21/japan/politics/lowering-age-electoral-eligibility/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #politics #votingage #ageofmajority #adulthood #ldp #dpp #diet

"16 is too young to vote" "18 is too young to vote" "21 is too young to vote"
"How do you explain people way beyond 25 voting for a convicted felon, who talks rubbish in front of a huge audience and on TV?"
"How do you explain people voting for a party whose state association is considered anti-democratic by courts & watched by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a party whose frontrunner is a judicially certified facist?"

#VotingAge #politics #usPolitics #gerPol #dePol

In Newark, 16-Year-Olds Win the Right to Vote in School Board Races

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/nyregion/newark-voting-age.html?unlocked_article_code=1.N00.I_1X.Hfj0kVN6x3jh&smid=re-share

#Newark #VotingAge #SchoolBoard #ElectionRights #YouthVote #CivicEngagement #Politics #News

The voting age should match the youngest girl forced to give birth in a forced birth state and/or the age of the youngest person charged as an adult in a crime. If they are adult enough for crime and motherhood, they're old enough to vote. Stop saying there only mature enough for the shit you want to force them into. Pick a side and stick to it. #politics #voting #votingage #fuckrepublicans #republicanhypocrisy #democracy #vote #VoteBlue

What the living fuck? This guy is a frickin basket case...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/10/ramaswamy-raise-voting-age-00096266

#vivekramaswamy #gop #votingage

George Takei sounds an alarm for young/1st-time voters! The #GQP wants to raise the voting age! In time for the 2024 election.

https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1692994610996379905?s=20

#Voting #VotingRights #VotingAge

*edited typo; added screenshot

It's #MPMonday and this #WHM23 we are looking at Jennie Lee. Elected MP for North Lanarkshire during a by-election in March 1929, Lee was just 24. The Equal Franchise Act (reducing the voting age to 21) didn't come into effect until the general election in May, making Lee below voting age when elected!

@histodon #20thCentury #Election #VotingAge

Makes a strong case.
—-
Why politicians are too scared to lower the voting age to 16 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/why-isn-t-the-voting-age-16-because-politicians-are-scared-of-young-people-20221129-p5c276.html

#auspol #Voting #VotingAge #Politics

Interesting argument. I think there is a lot to be said for giving 16 year olds the vote, given they’re treated as adults in various other ways. And their future is far more affected by climate change etc.
—-
Push to lower voting age gives voice to those who shape the future https://www.theage.com.au/national/push-to-lower-voting-age-gives-voice-to-those-who-shape-the-future-20221205-p5c3pa.html

#Vote #Voting #VotingAge #auspol

Wow. The Supreme Court of #NewZealand rules, that the #VotingAge of 18 is discrimatory.

Let's see whether #Europe can learn from this ruling. Maybe it's time for young #German voters to bring their case to the #Bundesverfassungsgericht ?

#Wahlalter #Wahlberechtigung

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63699786