Neuroscientists now claim that the human brain is not fully developed until age 25-30. We should therefore raise the voting age to that level. Military service is different: obedience is valued over thoughtfulness. With elections, the reverse, thoughtfulness rather than obedience, should yield better outcomes.
I personally feel if anything the voting age should be 15 for Girls and 18 or higher for boys. It has been my experience that girls are far more sensible at a young age. OK some do attempt the ladette life style but a lot of that is an act to be able to be including in social events etc. Brian
It didn't with Brexit. Leaving seems to have been driven by emotion, rather than thought.
My wife, a committed leaver, comes from Southwold which has links to inshore fishing but hardly relevant on a national scale. She had links to the travel industry through her mother (BEA) and godfather (Thompsons) and spends far more time abroad now than I do. So why attempt to pull up the drawbridge?
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Are those the thoughts of a remainer? How do you know how all leavers think?
I don't claim to. However, I have yet to hear one give an argument for leaving that wasn't either based upon emotion or not backed up by any facts.
How about the EU is strangled by bureaucracy. The most recent example being the COVID jab.
Andy
well, it doesn't seem to be that way on the Dover <> Calais route
It depends on what you call emotion. Would that include increased demand on housing? Suppression of wages, especially for the poorly paid.
My take is this: 40% would always support the EU, 40% would always support standalone UK. In both case there would be sheer stubbornness on the same basis some will always vote Tory and others vote Labour. You could call those "emotionals", where any reason will reinforce their belief however fallacious.
The 40% floating voters would have had their own reasons, in my case the experience of zero pay increases for 15 years; where I see school teacher, on the whole remainers, whinge about their pay increases. I'm not alone in recognising that an influx of 3m from Eastern Block countries has had a profound effect on the labour market. Too much change too quickly. The blame rests solely on John Major and Tony Blair on their quest to enlarge the EU and their various Accession Treaties.
From your reply you appear oblivious to the numerous reasons why the "floating" voter would vote for Brexit. I therefore presume you are either retired, or work, or have worked in a sector protected from immigration, such as teachers, legal or any job where near perfect spoken English is required. Are there any East European MPs for instance?
Just my tuppennys' worth. I fully accept YMMV
How about a test of competence to vote rather than universal suffrage? Some people may pass it at age 10 - others never.
How do you test?
It isnt possible to do that. It isnt even possible to decide what constitutes competence to vote either.
The test would need to determine whether the person had a basic understanding of the issues on which political parties usually campaign. It will obviously never happen, but would be good if it could be made to work - along with needing a licence to procreate.
That doesn't mean that such a vote was bad per se.
All socialist votes, after all, are cast emotionally (often out of an emotional distaste for the fact that others seem to be doing better) and certainly in the face of all known facts as to which sorts of society produce the highest living standards.
Mindlessly silly. Attlee wasn?t a socialist that way.
But plenty arent.
Pity about Norway.
Nor any other route, but that has nothing to do with Brexit
The trouble with you remainers is you never travelled internationally before.
How sweet. Who would decide the testing system? In your version of paradise, there can only be one party. I guess you're hoping that party would support *your* perception of perfection.
So, it's back to the old reality of suck it up.
I never saw the differences in the political systems as anything more than a side issue. Neither system is without its faults and both have advantages. Choosing one over the other is an emotional choice.
This article sets out the factual arguments for and against the two systems and reaches its own decision:
Obviously, you are not familiar with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty. That created the Citizens' Initiative, which states that any proposal that gets at least one million votes from the citizens of a majority of EU states has to be considered by the EU Commission.
It's the main issue.
No, it indicates whether you believe in democracy or not. In EU countries, power derives from the state which graciously grants freedoms to citizens.
That is the reverse of how it is (at least supposed to) work here. What d'ye think the Glorious Revolution was all about? The French monarchy didn't learn that lesson and as a result had its head chopped off. After which they replaced one absolute monarchy with another. Which seems to have been the trend in the larger continental states, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, have all had their dictators and revolutions, some within living memory.
Not that I think that we in this country are particularly special. We just had the good fortune to be in a position to evolve our governmental system rather than have it change by revolution. The one exception being the civil war, after which people saw sense. The remaining hiccup was James II but that had a good outcome too.
Ah, considered, eh? That must be a bit like what happens to the writer of a book upon which a screenplay is based. The contract says the writer has the right to be "consulted" about changes. After which he is told to f*ck off.
The writers of that provision to Lisbon knew very well it'd never be invoked; it would require cross-border organised political movements and parties to exist, which they don't and are not likely to in the foreseeable future. Clearly just a sop to fool people with.
From the very start I asked for concrete advantages of leaving that would help me in some way. Or indeed others less fortunate.
All I ever heard was airy fairy 'bring back control' and 'sovereignty' etc. And of course saving on the EU membership fees.
And I don't control this country. Or have sovereignty. If those we elected always made the right decisions and the EU bad ones, that might wash. But this simply isn't the case.
I then looked at the public face of the Leave campaign. Led by self serving charlatans like Farage and BoJo. And at the right wing parts of the meja which supported Leave. And it was obvious it was going to be a disaster for the majority in this country.
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