Nonsense on stilts, German style
From The Local:
"More than 40 German deputies on Tuesday proposed that the voting age be lowered to birth to give children a say in the country’s political future, the parliamentary press service said...They proposed that parents be allowed to vote for their offspring, until such time that the children felt they were ready to cast ballots themselves".
One of the partisans is named as a Free Democrat, the FDP being reasonably sound, generally. I will accept that 16, 18, 21 or whatever is an arbitrary age, and would regard dropping the voting age to 16 in these parts as being reasonable, with this the youngest age regarded as a threshold of adulthood.
What our woolly-minded German friends do not seem to have factored in is that an awful lot of pater and mater familiases will deem their progeny incompetent to vote, and should mutti, vatti and die kinder kick off in a polling station, who decides who gets to exercise the franchise? I forsee lots of litigation, lots of harassed polling officials, domestic violence and probably an outbreak of parties bribing younger voters with the promise of jelly and ice cream rather than the traditional cakes and ale.
Truly etc etc.
"More than 40 German deputies on Tuesday proposed that the voting age be lowered to birth to give children a say in the country’s political future, the parliamentary press service said...They proposed that parents be allowed to vote for their offspring, until such time that the children felt they were ready to cast ballots themselves".
One of the partisans is named as a Free Democrat, the FDP being reasonably sound, generally. I will accept that 16, 18, 21 or whatever is an arbitrary age, and would regard dropping the voting age to 16 in these parts as being reasonable, with this the youngest age regarded as a threshold of adulthood.
What our woolly-minded German friends do not seem to have factored in is that an awful lot of pater and mater familiases will deem their progeny incompetent to vote, and should mutti, vatti and die kinder kick off in a polling station, who decides who gets to exercise the franchise? I forsee lots of litigation, lots of harassed polling officials, domestic violence and probably an outbreak of parties bribing younger voters with the promise of jelly and ice cream rather than the traditional cakes and ale.
Truly etc etc.
Labels: Germany, idiots, Truly the Apocalypse is upon us
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 09, 2008 at 8:54 am.
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I wonder if I would be able to adopt a kid for a few days so that the weight of my vote is double that of my neighbour.
And what about offspring from those odd couples who support opposing parties? Which parent votes on behalf of which child? And what about estranged parents, does the parent who is looking after the child on polling day decide or is it the parent who has day-to-day custody?
It could be fun to watch the tangle, though.
More Euro socialist lunacy. Sixteen is also too young, Croydonian. Think how crazy you were when you were sixteen. Would you really want a bunch of people that crazy, who don't understand anything about anything except how they look in the mirror with different hairstyles, voting for a national government? Or a local council, even?
I think a tolerable trade off would be no income tax for under 18s.
Mind you, I'd probably trade the franchise for such an exclusion...
I reckon the vote should be by qualification, those who make a net "contribution" - however measured - should be able to play a part, those who depend should not.
Blues has, unfortunately, mentioned my King Charles's head.
People who do not contribute to the economy should not have vote on which party disburses tax monies.
People being funded by the taxpayer should be taken off the electoral rolls. When they begin contributing as in thinking the unthinkable and getting a job, a few clicks on the computer would restore their voting privileges.
Not that I am suggested that they would be motivated to go out and find work just so they could have their vote back. But I do note the injustice of people who contribute absolutely nothing, and are parasites on the taxpayer, having the ability to vote for the people who will keep him most comfortable.
Register for unemployment and/or any of the other myriad form of "benefits" (free money earned by others) and they remove your name from the electoral roll at the Job Centre or any other benefits outlet.
Most of them won't notice, but who cares? The point is, they will no longer be in a position to vote for the party that will give them a raise.
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