Ian
This week?s guest philosopher is Ian, a 7 th grader at South Middle School in Morgantown , West Virginia . Ian likes school, and his favorite subjects are math and geography. Ian loves to play soccer. He plays the forward position on his soccer team. Ian also likes to play video games, especially Madden 06, Hobbit, and NCAA 06 Football.
Ian took on the question, ?Who should have the right to vote?? Over the years in the United States , rules about who is allowed to vote have evolved. Women and African Americans, for example, earned the right to vote only after much protest and determination. I asked Ian to reflect upon our current rules. Right now, a person must be at least 18 years old and a US citizen to vote in the United States . Does this seem right? Are some people still left out in the cold? Should anyone else be able to have a say and participate in our democracy? Ian thinks our current voting rights do discriminate against young people. I asked Ian to reflect upon a radical proposal, the Radical Voting Rights View (RVRV):
RVRV: All US citizens should have the right to vote in the United States .
According to this proposal, many more people, including young people, would be able to vote. Although Ian is comfortable with the idea of young people voting, Ian does not endorse RVRV since it would allow very young children with no thoughts about the political process to vote. A one year old child could vote if we accepted RVRV. Ian thinks one year olds are too immature to be taking on the responsibility of voting. Ian believes that a person must have a better understanding of government in order to have the right to vote. One year olds, and other very young children, should not qualify.
Ian?s own view is that there should be no age restriction on voting, but there should be an ?understanding restriction? on the right to vote. Using age, all by itself, to restrict who can vote is a form of discrimination. It is no better than restricting voting rights based on race or gender. Ian believes that we should have a system in which any US citizen who wishes to vote, and is capable of voting responsibly, should be able to vote. Ian envisions a very general voting test that all potential voters must pass. He made it very clear that his test would not be an intelligence test. It would be a very basic test with simple questions about how our government works. Once a person could pass that test, the person would be eligible to vote. However, to actually vote in any particular election, someone with the right to vote would have to pass another test. When a voter arrived at a polling place, he or she would be asked short list of very basic questions about each of the candidates and issues. The test would be graded immediately by a computer, and all people who pass the test are permitted to move on and cast their vote.
So, Ian?s view (IV) on who should have the right to vote is something like this:
IVa: X should have the basic right to vote when X has demonstrated, by passing a voting test, a basic understanding about how government works.
IVa is combined with the following view to capture who, among those with the general right to vote, may vote in any particular election.
IVb: X should have the right to vote in election E, when (1) X has the basic right to vote and (2) X has a basic understanding of the issues/candidates being voted upon in election E.
Ian?s view addresses the worry that some people have about young people voting. Any young person who does not understand the basic issues would be prevented from voting. Some people have challenged the idea that young people should have the right to vote on the grounds that young people would just vote how their parents vote. They would not have their own opinions. Ian does not believe this worry is as serious as other people seem to think. Ian noted that young people do have ideas of their own on plenty of topics. They do not listen to the same music or wear the same type of clothes as their parents. Plenty of kids, if given the opportunity to express their views in a way that matters, would have their own political views. Ian also noted that it is not so bad if some kids agree with their parents. For one reason, their parents might have good ideas. And, Ian pointed out, there is no perfect system. Plenty of people who are over 18 and vote also agree with their parents or other influential people. So, even if it is true that some people will vote the same way their parents vote, that should not exclude them from voting. Moreover, Ian noted, a basic voting test would ensure that every voter at least knew what the basic issues are in any given election. Knowing all the basic views of the candidates would increase the likelihood, beyond what our current system does, that each voter would express his or her own ideas and preferences. Ian also noted that we trust 16 year olds to drive in the United States . If we trust 16 year olds to drive, shouldn?t they be given the responsibility to vote?
An interesting consequence of Ian?s view is that some adults would be ineligible to vote. After all, some adults do not know about how government works, what the basic issues are, or what individual candidates stand for. Ian noted, once again, ?there is no perfect system, but this is something I like about my view.?
