Deciding Who Votes

John R. Houk

© November 11, 2010

Ann Coulter wrote a column in which she encourages the repeal of the 26th Amendment.

1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

I am not sure if Coulter is being her typical facetious political writing self, but if she is not this is an occasion I disagree with her. Her point is that military members stationed overseas are not provided the equal ability of an 18 year old to vote. Coulter is absolutely correct that the military vote is not counted because various States refuse to send out the proper documentation enabling the military vote to be counted by Election Day. That practice is indeed reprehensible! You have got to know this occurs because Democrats assume military voters will vote Republican. It is probably a correct assumption that most military voters do vote Republican; however I doubt that 100% of military voters are voting against the Dems. If my guess is correct then the Dems are also preventing military voters that would actually vote for the anti-military political Party.

In any case I was enabled to vote in my first Presidential election in 1976 at the age of 20 because of the 26^th Amendment. I couldn’t vote on Election Day 1974 because my birthday came about three weeks later. I would have voted if I could have.

Coulter’s stings the Dem Party by admonishing Obamacare’s mandate that parents MUST leave their children on their insurance until age 26. The point being that Obama and the Dems must be saying that citizens are not mature enough to make political decisions and should not be able to vote until after age 26. The insinuation is a politicized college graduate is old enough to vote.

Truthfully I have to agree that in this day and age there are voters that are clueless; however I believe this has less to do with age and more to do with irresponsibility in becoming informed. Thus it is not an age issue. Being informed is a responsibility issue. Do we take away the ability to vote based on knowledge? Absolutely Not!

Measuring knowledgeability in voting enters the realm of despotism in the government deciding who can and cannot vote. That would be evil for the entire political spectrum from Left to Right. We have to decide then that the age to vote should be based on the unalienable right endowed by nature’s Creator as embodied by the rule of law’s age of consent.

The question then becomes: What is the age of consent? That question has a multifaceted answer in America. At age 18 you are by law considered a legal adult and thus are accountable for your actions as opposed to a minor whose accountability is limited by law in which parents may be held responsible for many of the actions of their minor children. And yet an 18 year old is still a minor in regard to consuming alcohol or experiencing prurient data such as strip clubs or X rated films (in some States). Also the age of consent may differ for a person aged 14 to 18 for sex depending on which State one lives. So if you can have sex at a certain age are you accountable to vote? Most people would offer a resounding NO.

Frankly age 18 is the perfect age for adult accountability. It is the age most graduate from High School and is eligible for College or a trade school or the military without the consent of a parent. Is an 18 year old mature enough to consume alcohol responsibly or to view live prurient interests? Most would say NO; however a voting 18 year old would probably vote yes.

Here is the thing. Eighteen year olds do not vote voluntarily. I mean if there is not a law forcing citizens to vote, an unfortunate majority of people do not vote at any age. Non-Presidential election years are consistently way below 50%. Most Presidential Elections are barely above 50%. (See National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2008)

I have to believe the percentage of the American electorate that does vote are indeed informed and vote for a purpose. The problem with the purpose is that America is currently polarized nation. The people who vote with purpose that are vocal are decidedly on the Left or the Right. Thus the voters with purpose, who do not associate themselves with a political spectrum but with what benefits their interests, are decidedly centrist. It is the centrist voters that empower the Left or the Right that hopefully brings political balance to America.

The media might in America is decidedly weighted to the Left. When television, Hollywood and the written media bombard the public for over a quarter century on Leftist principles, the centrists make a close voting decision based on the Leftist bombardment. The Right has FOX News, bloggers and a handful of Conservative written outlets. The only media balance that exists is the fortunate fact that FOX News has higher ratings than all their competitors on a massive scale. This Conservative creeping balance has really existed for about a decade. The Right has to find a way to win the centrists back to leaning toward the Right to offset the societal acceptance of homosexuality, exclusion of Christianity from public venues and the favorability to kill unborn babies in the name of birth control.

I am a Right Winger; however I am wise enough to comprehend that the Left keeps the Right from going too far. Going too far Right usually means abandoning Liberty in favor of Security. I am a pro-Security kind of guy; however I can that the abuse of Security focus can indeed infringe on an individual’s civil rights. The balance is Liberty with Security and not so much Liberty that the nation disintegrates from foreign multicultural influences changing the American way of life. This is merely an example. I am certain my readers or critics can find other unbalancing issues of the Left and the Right that ruins America’s political balance and threatens the existence of the American way of life.

JRH 11/11/10