Eighteen is too young to vote

Age 21 has long been accepted as the start of adulthood. That’s where the American voting age had been, in most states and elections, until the federal standard was lowered to 18 in 1971 by the 26th Amendment—mainly because of the draft and the Vietnam War. Young men could be drafted and sent into battle but weren’t allowed to vote.

The emergency of Vietnam is long over—and adolescents today are dramatically unprepared to vote. At 21 they are still barely educated, because history and Western civilization are taught so badly at most of our schools and colleges. At least 21-year-olds have had years of experience as almost-adults. Many have dealt with real employers, real romances, complex institutions. And at least they are, mainly, far more mature than they were at 18. Follow any student from the start of freshman year to graduation: An enormous change takes place. Yet people refer to “college students” as if they were, developmentally, a homogeneous blob.

What harm is there in a lower voting age? It’s hard to pin down the effects and the influence of our youngest voters, who often don’t bother to vote anyway. Today’s 18-year-olds are worse-educated than teens in the 1960s. And in more cases than anyone would have believed a generation ago, today’s elected officials are grossly incompetent. Adolescent voters didn’t cause the problem but could hardly be helping. Today some elected officials can’t see why a city government should mind thuggish mobs destroying public monuments they don’t like, or stealing chunks of big cities and running them as they please. The modern left has suggested abolishing law enforcement as we know it. Great idea—and let’s outlaw crime too, while we’re up.