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First off, pick an age. Then educate them. [1]

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Date: 2023-10-20  

phezisms

We need to pick an age. 18 or 21. Kids who are allowed to join the military should be allowed to do everything— gamble, vote, drink, smoke. SO PICK A FUCKING AGE CONGRESS. I know yall work like 1 week a month but for fucks sake. Stop arguing and pick an age. It’s sick that kids can go to war but can’t smoke a fucking cigarette? Or drink a weak ass beer? Or play blackjack at a casino? COME ON.

July 24th, 2022

Less than 1/3 of 18-29 year olds plan to vote in the midterm. Yeah, duh. We don’t teach shit to kids about current events, politics, voting, so why would they? I was an army brat for 22 years. When I was 8, we lived in Maryland and had “Patriot tests”. As an 8-year old we would have to recite the preamble (I still know it today, thank you Schoolrock), we had to know where all 50 states went on a map, all the state capitols as well, also had to recite some of the Bill of Rights, know all the government offices, etc. 8 years old, 3rd grade.

Then when I was 17 in a Kansas high school, we had the same shit in our pathetic government class. Many of my peers could not do any of the things we did at age 8 in Maryland. So I’m not shocked at all that young people don’t vote.

I am privileged, I am lucky, I learned how to vote, get student loans, the FAFSA, current events, politics, etc. parents encouraged it and were supportive and I had the ability to do these things. Tons of my high school peers had no idea what the FAFSA was.

If we want kids to give a shit about politics and voting, we have to educate them. When you tell a kid No and offer zero explanation, gee, I wonder what they will want to do. You gotta tell kids the WHY, the HOW, talk like real adults.

Government, civics, politics, current events, should all be taught age 5-22. Kindergarten through college. Everyone should also be automatically registered to vote at age 18.

You can’t just expect young people to do what you want even if it is in their best interests. We’ve been making it sound complicated just like economics. We want people to feel confused that way the Rich and privileged stay super rich and we stay down.

Educate the young people. Use the internet, that’s the future, that’s how they want to be reached or a text maybe. Or an email. But you can’t expect kids who haven’t had any information about politics, voting, current events, government, controversy, issues, etc and then yell at them cuz they didn’t vote when they turned 18. Kansas didn’t make it easy for me to register when I moved here… so there’s also that.

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