The Political Hat

The 26^th Amendment to the Constitution was passed because it was felt unfair that we didn’t trust the vote to eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year olds when we could trust them with actual military weapons to be used in an actual war. How could we not trust them to have a say in policies that could end up getting them sent off and potentially killed?

     Since then we’ve seen the age limit for alcohol, tobacco, and increasingly any firearm increased to twenty-one based on the scientific evidence that brains don’t mature until that age, and eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year olds don’t understand the consequences of their actions—yet we still trust them to have a say in the running of everyone else’s lives and to understand the consequences of their voting preference that impacts everyone else.

     That we “trust” seventeen and under year olds to have an abortion or undergo transgender surgery is another, though equally nonsensical, topic.

     Certainly, though, if you are competent enough to have a say in making the laws, then you must be competent to face the consequences of breaking a law, right?

     In the Fools’ Golden State of California, the answer may soon be NO.

“A California state senator wants people 19 and younger accused of crimes to be tried as juveniles.

“California’s current law says people ages 16 and 17 can only be tried as adults in certain circumstances. Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley, announced a bill on Tuesday that would raise the age at which people are automatically tried as adults to 20.

“Skinner said brain science research shows the part of the brain that inhibits impulses and enables organized, planned behavior is not fully developed in people as young as 19.

“‘When teenagers make serious mistakes and commit crimes, state prison is not the answer,’ Skinner said.”

     But access to the ballot box is the answer?

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