U.S. Voting Age: If one is old enough to vote then, by definition, he is old enough to look after himself.
The title of this little masterpiece is the beginning of the first line of an old song:
Is you is or is you ain’t my baby?
By the way, this article has nothing to do with songs.
What this article has to do with is the U.S. Constitution in general and one specific amendment, as follows:
U.S. Constitution, Amendment XXVI, ratified July 1, 1971
Section 1
The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
Section 2
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Now, something tells me that a great amount of education is not required to understand those words. Therefore, I assume I may continue with no elucidation.
Traditionally, in this country an adult was defined as a person over the age of 21 years. Why is that? It’s because before July 1, 1971, the voting age was 21.
The way I look at it is this. If one is old enough to vote then, by definition, he is old enough to look after himself. That is to say, if you are old enough to have a say in government then you are old enough to be responsible for yourself. Note that I am not asking you to either agree or disagree with the lower voting age. I am asking you to understand the logic involved.
It seems that our lawmakers want to use the Constitution when, and only when, it is useful to their purposes. Why do I say that? For years the Federal age to consume alcohol has been 21. Recently, the Federal age to use tobacco was raised to 21. In other words, an adult is defined by our Congress and not by the Constitution. How can they do that? It’s easy, just ignore the Constitution.
I leave you with a question:
Is you is or is you ain’t an adult?
