Lowering the Legislative Age

19 thoughts on “Lowering the Legislative Age”

1. Set the minimum age to 10!  This would perhaps be the final step to convince some legislators (Cadman, I’m thinking of you) to watch their language on the house floor.

   Besides, most kids have better ways to handle procedural disputes that don’t matter: rock-paper-scissors, for example; or “first one to the podium gets to speak next… ready, set, GO!”

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2. As long as you’re old enough to be tried for a felony as an adult, you should be allowed to commit felonies in the legislature.  It’s only right.

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3. You can be tried for felonies at age 14–that doesn’t mean you’re ready for the legislature.  Leave the age to run and serve at 25.  What is Garcia thinking?  He must be really bored and lacking in bills to think of this one.

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4. I’m sure the Dem leadership is loving this.  And do they really let people that bad at logic teach at CU?

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5. I worried about little Josh Penry getting muscled by special interest groups, lobbyists, and fellow legislators, but 18 year olds? Yikes! For the record, I’d raise the age to join the military and vote to 21, to match the legal drinking age and the age of reason. The part of the human brain that relates to reason, judgement, and impulse control is often not even fully developed until the early 20’s. (Especially in the male brain, present company excluded of course) There must be other more pressing things to focus on in Aurora, no?

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   1. He or she couldn’t do the Dem’s “Drinking Liberally” nights and whatever is on the other side of the aisle! 

      Don’t forget, we had a movement in this country for several decades to set 18 as the age of majority for most things: drinking, enter into contracts, join the the military, etc. 

      Then MADD reared up and all the states were blackmailed into setting the age for drinking back to 21. And the BAC level for being under the influence was dropped to .08, a “feel good measure” if there ever was one.  And, out went Colorado’s 3.2 “trainer” bars.

      “But if we save one life, isn’t it worth it?” NO!

      Hell, they are drinking at 14, so WTF?

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      1. …..we won’t see any problem w/ 18 to 21 y.o. legislators being carded and turned down at those three-martini lunches hosted lobbyists.

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      2. Drinking Liberally is not a Democratic party group.  We’re incorporated as an LLC and are thus non-partisan.  Of course, the word liberal is in our name, but there are certainly plenty of conservative democrats.  Heck, we’ll even let in conservatives, as long as they play nice.

         Finally, the counter group would be shit-faced-conservatives.  😉

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6. As one of the youngest posters on this blog I can honestly say I don’t like this idea at all. Having real-world experience is a great thing for future politicians, and having the age be set at 25 encourages such experience.

   While some of the brightest 18 year olds may be far more intelligent than most 60 year olds, I would still rather they wait a few years. Also, allowing “kids” to enter the military at age 18 can offer great opportunity, such as the ability to attend college. Lastly, I hope parsingreality appreciates my resolution for the new year, which is to capitalize and punctuate my posts since it has bothered him so much in the past.

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   1. Thanks, truly appreciated!

      Signed,
      Traditional Olde Fart

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         1. I think I’ve already broken it…but just for you I will keep trying.

            -“Off-the-hizzle-for-rizzle Young Buck”

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7. Whether they’re 18 or 81, they still have to convince the voters before they deserve to serve. If they’re not mature enough, I think voters will be able to figure that out. On the other hand, if they’re capable enough to put together a campaign and convince voters that they understand the issues and will represent the voters’ interests better than their opponents, why shouldn’t they have the opportunity?

   NOW (on PBS) just had a story about a small town in Montana where a 22-year-old was elected mayor, and this young woman was pretty impressive. Last year Hillsdale, Michigan elected an 18-year-old mayor.

   It seems to me that if you give young people the opportunity to serve, they might take more of an interest in learning about government and politics (even those who don’t end up running). And that might lead to a more informed citizenry. Right now many kids think civics/government class is a waste of time, because they think it doesn’t affect them.

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   1. Such a low age limit can attract bozos like this guy…

      (WARNING: linked page includes photos that may be NSFW [not safe for work] and the last one is downright gross. But there’s no blood or nudity.)

      This was the GOP’s candidate for Washington State’s statehouse district 43, which includes Seattle’s gay community, it’s arts community, and the University of Washington. It’s possible that the only Republicans who live there are campus GOPers like him. He clearly wasn’t being serious given the district’s registration (I think he got 14% of the vote in the general, and some believe he got even that much only because he was being covered/ridiculed by this blog). Even so, it’s an inauspicious political debut…

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      1. than Rick O’Donnell demonstrated in his term papers at age 25.

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         1. He showed a good natured sense of humor about the whole thing. The Stranger later put him on the cover of their year-end “regrets” issue…

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8. That’s “convince the voters that they deserve to serve.”

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9. I think most in the 18-24 age range would settle for being able to easily rent a car.

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