If You Allow It, They Will Be Dumb

There's an election in about a month and a half. If the Conservatives had waited a few months longer before bringing down the House, I could've voted. Stephen Fletcher was at my band concert the other day, I wanted to ask him whether or not the Conservatives would abolish universal health-care. On this issue, I'm with the NDP. Jack Layton recently stated that private health clinics were and essential part of Medicare, and part of Tommy Douglas' vision, but that they shouldn't be funded at all by the government. The Liberals would get rid of the private clinics. I believe that if someone needs an operation badly enough, they should be able to pay for it and get it over with, but also a just society is one that helps its members who can't help themselves.

But I'm off topic already. Should the voting age be lowered to 16? I'm 17 and I'd love to vote. I like to think that I'm fairly knowledgeable when it comes to politics, so my choice would be thought out. But would most other teenagers be that way? Probably not. It's a sticky issue, as the question it brings up is: at what age is it deemed that people have the necessary knowledge to vote? Apparently it's 18. Lowering the voting age would probably just bring in more uninformed votes, but hey, how is that different from now? Might as well just have a set voting age. Eventually, where do you end? 13-year olds? Boo-urns, 18 is good enough.