PrintUpping the ante on lowering the voting age
Since Left Coast Democrats, led by State Senator John Vasconcellos, have called for a proposed amendment to the California State Constiution that would lower the voting age to 14, I thought I'd go them one better by proposing 14 year olds vote in Democratic primaries starting in 2006.
Oh, sure, the March 2004 Democratic proposal said that 16 year olds would count only as half a vote and 14 year olds only as one quarter of a vote. However this language smacks of the shameful and demeaning Three—Fifths of a Person representation clause in the original US Constitution that applied to black slaves. It would just be a matter of time before that analogy with slavery would be drawn by the Democrats and the legacy media. The popular rallying cry of "One Kid, One Vote" would rule the day.
But to go the Democrats one better, why wait for the "hidebound, mean spirited" Republicans to accept this? After all, the Democrats can create a working model for the nation today by allowing One Kid One Vote in the next local and national Democratic primaries. No better time to start the proposal in motion than now, so that it would be in place by 2008, if not 2006.
I am not a legal scholar, but since a primary isn't an actual Federal election, I'm sure that an election lawyer (or several) could be found to argue that a political party — a private association — should be able to allow whomever it wants to vote in its primaries, since the outcome doesn't obligate the state or federal government to place the primary winner in government office. I hear there are several Democrat lawyers wandering around Ohio and Florida with time on their hands who would probably be amenable to writing the briefs and petitioning state election commissions and the DNC on behalf of this proposal. Stranger legal arguments were heard in Broward and Palm beach Counties in late 2000. I'm sure that the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San FRancisco would go along with this.
After all, why exclude 14 year olds from picking the next Democratic Presidential contender? Hillary has noting to fear. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are too young to run against her in 2008. Then again, Sean "P Diddy" Combs might give her some competition because he was born in 1970, making him old enough to be on the ballot. Think of the excitement 14 year olds voting for in a presidential primary would create. Heck, think of the excitement 14 year olds voting in a Board of Education or Truant Officer local election would create.
In the last presidential election, John Edwards virtually promised the severely spinal injured would walk again if John kerry became president. I can see politicians promising free steroids for teen athletes and non—athletes, saying that everyone should be able to win the 100 meter dash in the Olympics.
By allowing 14 year olds to vote in the Democratic primaries, Bruce Springsteen's or Eminem's endorsement of a candidate might mean a whole lot more, especially in a heavily blue state or blue county. And if the rock stars play their cards right, they could even get a promise from a major candidate of the lessening or outright repeal of drug laws. After all, the more young voters they can deliver in the primaries, the more clout they would have. The Dixie Chicks, who would also perform in the Northeast under the name The New York Review of Books Chicks, would be a powerful force in reaching the Southern primary voter, an issue raised by Howard Dean time and again.
Barbra Streisand, eat your heart out.
Jack Kemp is not the former Congressman and Vice Presidential candidate of the same name.
