Skin in the Game
By Albert B. Kelly
I try and read things;
newspapers, magazines, and books. Partly to keep up on news and current events,
but more so to gauge where things are headed in our society, all while trying
to maintain a fresh perspective as I grow older.
I was surprised, though not
shocked, to learn that over 200,000 juveniles are tried as adults each year in
this country - most ranging in age from 15-17 years old- but no tobacco or
alcohol until 21. That got me thinking about how teens have one foot in
adulthood and one in childhood and how it’s just harder today.
Depending on how we
grown-ups feel, we craft this DMZ between adulthood and childhood as we think
best. Sometimes we’re inconsistent and at other times we’re downright punitive,
like when we lock up a 14-year olds in adult prison.
At other times we do ok. In
many states, 16 and 17 year-olds begin to drive and many hold their first jobs
at that age, and should they have a job, they pay taxes. They also become bona
fide shoppers and consumers.
Companies spend untold
millions targeting teens as a consumer demographic not only for the monies they’ll
spend in the short term, but with the hope of creating lifelong loyal consumers
for whatever brand is being marketed.
It’s at about this time (16
or 17 years of age), that students are faced with some life-altering things
such as what career to choose or living with SAT results that play such a large
part in determining what college might accept them.
It’s also at about this
time that many, assuming they go to college, are getting ready to take on
decades of student loan debt that will impact their ability to buy homes, cars,
or even live somewhere other than a parent’s basement upon graduation.
They can do all of this, but
what they absolutely cannot do is vote- even in municipal elections. That
should change. It’s more than a point in some academic discussion. These young
people will have to live with the decisions we make long after we’ve left
center stage.
If we can load them with
debt, mold them as consumers, charge and lock them up as adults, mortgage their
futures, and make irreversible decisions about the communities and the country
they’ll inherit, they should have a standing invitation to a say in how it all
goes down. Let them have a little skin in the game sooner rather than later.
Some will claim that 16
and 17 year-olds don’t care and won’t show up to vote. Maybe, but have you seen
the turnout numbers for us adults lately? There’s a reason companies cultivate
them as lifelong consumers. Cultivate a habit of civic engagement with our
young people and they’ll likely remain engaged.
Others will claim that
they’re too immature to cast an informed vote. Listen to some of the rhetoric
coming at coming out of Iowa and New Hampshire and you’ll soon realize they
can’t do any worse than some adults.
The National Youth Rights
Association sees a “trickle up” effect when we invite 16 and 17 year-olds to
join the body politic and engage them on the issues affecting them and their families;
it nurtures a civic-mindedness that lasts a lifetime.
Extending suffrage to 16
and 17 year-olds is beginning to happen. Two Maryland communities, Hyattsville
and Takoma Park, extended municipal voting to 16 and 17 year olds. Several
nations, including Austria, Germany, and the UK, extended voting to 16 year
olds for national elections as well as local ones.
A study in Denmark noted
that 18 year olds were far more likely to cast a "first vote" than 19
year olds and that each passing month of age resulted in further declines in
"first vote" turnout.
Studies from Austria
confirm that extending voting rights to 16 and 17 year-olds results in higher
turnout for first-time voters and these voters continue to turn out at the
polls.
For us, maybe change
should come at the local level- allowing 16 and 17 year-olds the right to vote
in municipal elections only. A little laboratory of Democracy, it’s a starting
place and it’s worthy of serious consideration.
Our young people have
remarkable energy and minds full of questions and ideas; we need to connect
that energy to real power. While some can be apathetic, they can also be
extremely passionate. They are innovative, they are the future, and we’ll be
better for having had their participation.