Pirate's Cove

 

Morning, y’all, Jebediah Murphy here with a bit of that truthiness from good ole flyover country. And, ya know, I reckon that it is time to buy some of them ice skates from WalMart for cruising around Hell, as I actually almost agree with a DUmmy!

Seems there is whopper of a nutty editorial at ye old Grey Lady which is so dumb that it must have been Pinch Sulzberg, not Anya Kamenetz, who wrote it. You’re 16, You’re Beautiful, and You’re a Voter

 Age thresholds are meant to bring an impartial data point to bear on insoluble moral questions: who can be legally executed, who can die in Iraq, who can operate the meat cutter at the local sub shop. But in a time when both youth and age are being extended, these dividing lines are increasingly inadequate.

Legal age requirements should never stand alone. They should be flexible and pragmatic and paired with educational and cognitive requirements for the exercise of legal maturity.

Driving laws provide the best model for combining early beginnings and mandatory education. Many states have had success with a gradual phasing in of driving rights over a year or more, starting with a learner’s permit at age 16. The most restrictive of these programs are associated with a 38 percent reduction in fatal crashes among the youngest drivers, according to a study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Similarly, 16-year-olds who want to start voting should be able to obtain an “early voting permit” from their high schools upon passing a simple civics course similar to the citizenship test. Besides increasing voter registration, this system would reinforce the notion of voting as a privilege and duty as well as a right — without imposing any across-the-board literacy tests for those over 18.

And why stop at voting? Sixteen is a good starting point for phasing in adult rights and responsibilities, from voting to drinking to marriage. In reality, this is already when most people have their first jobs, their first drinks and their sexual initiations. The law ought to empower young people to negotiate these transitions openly, not furtively.

The DUmmy calls it the “Dumbest damn editorial I’ve read in years.” If I didn’t know better, I would think he/she was a neo-con: Amazing. If the little darlins break the law, they want to be tried in Juvenile Court. But now they want to vote, drink, whatever at 16. Nebraska lowered the drinking age to 18 years ago. It was such a fiasco that it had to be changed back to 21. But this cluck wants 16 to be the magic number. Sheesh.

Another, going by the handle “BuffyTheFundieSlayer” (a good insight into the mind of a progressive, eh?) writes: Hey, if they want the rights, they need to accept the responsibilities. Being an adult isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I say the voting age should be based on adult competence. Which means a good chunk of them thar Progressives would not be able to, based on their typical juvenile conduct. And the voting rights of their parents should be revoked, due to the idiocy of the children they were entrusted to raise. Heck, take it away from all of them, because most Progressives are dumb enough to entrust the government to raise their kids. ;)

Oh, and take away Anya’s voting privileges, for writing such an incredibly idiotic editorial.

Cross Posted at Right Wing News.