Recent political movements have been fueled by increased civic engagement by Americans. Previously, political discourse was fueled by special interest groups, led by adults, however, with the arrival and steady increase of the “March For Our Lives” movement, following the Parkland school shooting, it is apparent that younger students are becoming more involved in politics at an alarming rate. While increased political knowledge is important for students as they progress in academia, modern attempts to decrease the voting age are uninformed at best. However, it is quite possible that the modern-day movement to decrease the voting age is a wide attempt to shift the political landscape of the United States by broadening the progressive agenda.
In many societies, including the United States, students below the traditional college age are quite apolitical, or in some cases, adopt the political views of their parents, or their larger families. However, when college arrives, many students begin to form their own opinions surrounding political and economic policies. In college, students are exposed to political views—specifically progressive, liberal policies.
Professor Steven Thomason, Ph.D., M.A. a Political Philosophy & Classics Professor at the University of Dallas, describes this issue quite eloquently when asked why colleges are so liberal. Professor Thomason states, “The simplest answer is because most professors are liberal. Ergo, students become liberal because the views of the professors, even though some will try to mask them with claims value neutrality, are passed on to students.” He continues and asks a follow-up question that arises from his primary answer. “This, of course, begs the question: why are most professors liberal? Again, the simple answer is because most of their professors were liberal, and they passed their views on to grad students who became the present professors. Further, academia is to some extent an exercise in indoctrination and groupthink.”
Colleges are a breeding ground for far-left ideology. Even our own university has socialist and communist propaganda littered all over the university, and yes, it should be called out for what it really is: litter. The statue of the iron worker outside in the center of the campus, as well as multiple framed pictures of Karl Marx can be found in several places around the university. While colleges themselves breed socialist-leaning students, this begs the question, why do liberal political organizations, such as the March for Our Lives, advocate for lowering the voting age? The answer is quite simple: brainwash them young, give them voting rights, and you earn their undying loyalty.
According to the Pew Research Center, during the 2018 midterm elections, 67 percent of individuals aged 18–29 voted for a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives. Following that age range, the percentage of individuals who voted Democrat substantially decreases. The Pew Research Center also reported that 58% of individuals aged 30–44 voted for the Democratic candidate and 50% individuals 45 and older voted Democrat. Clearly, the older generation votes Democrat at a 50–50 split.
Keeping in mind the statistics by the Pew Research Center, multiple things are very clear. Young people are much more likely to vote Democrat, and older generations have a 50–50 split between Democrat and Republican. People who advocate for lowering the voting age understand that the impressionable youth who are given voting rights early by the left-wing, will continue to vote for them, even after they have turned 18. If it were up to me, the voting age should be 25, when the human brain is fully developed and people live on their own and understand the ramifications of what they’re voting on.
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