Like duh. This really isn’t too complicated in terms of issues is it? Are people who are old enough tet married or register a civil partnership with consent, drive a moped or invalid carriage, consent to sexual activity with others aged 16 and over, drink wine/beer with a meal if accompanied by someone over 18, get a National Insurance number, join a trade union work full-time if you have left school, get paid the national minimum wage for 16/17 year-olds, join the Armed Forces with parental consent, change name by deed poll, leave home with or without parental consent, choose a GP, consent to medical treatment, buy premium bonds, pilot a glider, buy a lottery ticket, register as a blood donor (but you won’t be called to give blood until you’re 17 and apply for a passport without parental consent then surely you can have a say on the future of the country?
The only real argument against it is that some 16 and 17 year-olds won’t understand the full ramifications of what they are voting for, but do you know what, a lot of adults won’t fully understand the situation either and I include myself in that statement. Very few will understand the full issue but instead they’ll get an overview and make their decision based on the information that they know. That is pretty much how all referendums and elections work.
As a 16 year-old do I think I could have done some Googling (not that Google was the search engine of choice when I was 16, we had Yahoo, Altavista, Lycos and many others, even maybe Ask Jeeves…) but the point remains, I’m sure I could have done some research and made an informed decision to some degree. If people can join the armed forces at such an age then I have zero doubt, let me repeat that, zero doubt, that people of that age should have the right not only to vote in this referendum but also to vote in general. Voting not only helps shape the country but if you old enough to pay taxes to the government then you should have your say on who that government is.
Of course the probability is that younger people voting would help my preferred answer in this referendum as younger people are more broad minded and are thinking about the future and not the past. The younger you are then in general you care more about the economy and less about immigration and that is the reverse of the older generation. Many of them (in my opinion) aren’t thinking about the future and what is best for their kids and grandkids but instead care about the ‘good old days’ and hark back to how things were better back then instead of noticing that the world has moved on – and continues to do so.
I am very much into multiculturalism and believe that this planet should be free for us all to live and work where we please. Many people who were born in the UK have moved elsewhere for work, for love, just for the sake of it and many people do the reverse. The more integrated we get as a society we get then the more tolerant we become. I firmly believe that the older generation are less tolerant for reasons unbeknown to me but I’d hypothesise it is because they got brought up in a different era, the war, the Cold War and the like.
My generation have never worried about the bomb or being invaded and I’m sure if we did then we may think differently. Still the fact is we haven’t and many of us have foreign friends and we aren’t scared about the differences. I lived with a guy of Indian descent at uni and he was great, I’m only ever truly fallen for one person and she was (well still is) Polish, I worked with several Poles and they were great people, even crazy crazy Dangerous D. I’ve worked with Spaniards, people of Malay origin, Portuguese folk, Aussies and I could go on. Who cares if they were born in a different country, should that and that alone determine where they should spend their life?
The world is our oyster and we should all be free to go where we please. Still though just because I think that and I think 16 & 17 year-olds will in the main agree that isn’t why I think they should get the vote. Heck had they gotten the vote earlier this month then things may have been even worse for the Lib Dems but they deserved the vote then and still do today. The young Scots voted in their referendum and got actively engaged in politics because of it and even if I think they made the wrong decision, that isn’t my decision to make, it is there’s and they have the right to make it.
Lastly I keep seeing UKIP members saying about this being a free and fair referendum. It will be so just shut up. David Cameron isn’t going to be stuffing ballot boxes with votes to stay in so just shut up. The country will vote and we’ll deal with the outcome when the countries voice has been heard. I just hope that the voices of 16 and 17 year-olds are included in the countries voice.
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