Youth Rights? "Youth's Don't Have No rights!"
A common misconception is the United States, and worldwide, is that "youths
have no rights". Politicians often pass laws "for the children", but how would
these politicians know what "the children" want, or what "the children" need?
We, as elected representatives, are supposed to represent people. Children,
teenagers, adults and seniors are all people, and all deserve to be
represented equally.
The Graduated Driver's License (GDL) Program
This is one of my many government backed programs that is "for the children"
and yet does nothing to address the problem that new drivers, regardless of
age, simply lack experience behind the wheel. In order to create the appearance
of doing something, politicians have spent your tax money implementing double
standards and two sets of laws, which doesn't somehow inject additional
experience into the bodies of new drivers, but does make new drivers cash cows
for insurance companies and municipal courts. If a driver with a GDL is
ticketed for simply speeding, they are immediately hit with two fines, first
for speeding, which they may be been guilty of, and second, hit with a fine
for speeding while having a GDL. This policy doesn't help keep "the children"
safer, it simply makes lawyers, judges and municipalities more money.
The solution? Well the solution is the same solution as 90% of the other
"problems" we have: get the government out of the driver's licensing business.
What? Yes, privatize licensing agencies. Support a non-monopoly, non-government
controlled, competing licensing agencies. If, and when, a driver is guilty
of a moving violation, not only the driver should be penalized, but the
licensing agency as well. Our current government controlled system provides
no incentive for the licensing agency to adequately "test" a driver's abilities.
Asking a new driver to roll a car at 5mph around a closed parking lot, obey
a stop sign and park a car, in no way resembles the everyday "experiences" of
driving a car. There are no traffic lights on the "course". There are no
"deer in headlights". There are no high speed merges. And there is no reason
for the DMV to not give you a license, because they know that giving a new
driver, "the children", a license means that insurance companies will profit,
the government run ticketing agency will profit, and when more of "the
children" die in car accident because of improper testing, they use the press
coverage to further their agenda, without addressing the problem that no matter
what age, 17, 18 or 27 a new driver hit the road, they simply lack the
experience of older drivers. Competing, private agencies, that stand to lose
their license granting privileges if many of their drivers are committing
traffic violations, would have a real incentive to train new drivers
sufficiently.
The Youth Voting Age
In NJ,
the legal working age is 12 years old according to the NJ Department of
Labor. If you believe in a minimum working age to begin with, then you should
note that at 12, these people might be paying taxes into a system in which
they have no representation. Furthermore, suppose you are 15 years of age. You
might be working, paying taxes, have no representation (for three more years)
but the person elected into office, who has a direct impact on foreign policy,
the economy and higher education costs can be setting up a policy that makes
it impossible for you to afford college, leaving the military as your only
viable option, at a time of a war that you may, or may not support. If you b
elieve in the minimum age of 18 to enlist in the military, then surely someone
who is 15 has a vested interest in elected representatives who won't send them
off to war when they turn 18, unless that is what the youths want to do when
they turn 18, but they should have a choice. In addition, many opponents to
lowering the
voting age state things such as "'children' will just vote how their parents
tell them to vote". These people may be right, but if they are, then there
should be no concern as we have basically a two party system. For every parent
that convinces their child to vote R, there will be a parent who convinces
their child to vote D. Surely there will be a few on either side who rebel and
vote opposite of their parents just because, and hopefully there will be a few
who actually do the research on their own, educate themselves on the candidates
and vote for the candidate who best represents their interests.
The Drinking Age
We had a prohibition of alcohol amendment, and then we got rid of it. It didn't
work and no form of prohibition has ever worked. The prohibition era gave rise
to a profitable black market for alcohol by corrupt politicians and violent
gangs. Just as people found alcohol during the prohibition era, teens today
find alcohol. Our current policies often force these people to "binge drink"
or consume alcohol in an unsafe, unsanitary and unhealthy manner to avoid
prosecution. The solution is to lower, or better still eliminate, the drinking
age so that, hopefully responsible, parents can do their job of parenting
and explain the potential dangers of alcohol consumption to their offspring
before "word on the street" becomes their sole, and thus primary, source of
information. Will this eliminate drunk driving by younger drivers? No, but
the raised drinking age didn't help either. Statistics show that when the
drinking age was raised from 18 to 21, the drunk driving deaths simply shifted
from the 18-21 bracket to the 21-25 bracket. Politicians pat each other on the
back and point to "legislation that works" and "saving kid's lives", but ignore
that the problem remains, and is still shifted to the side. Furthermore, there
are drunk driving deaths at all ages, teens to seniors, so age alone has
nothing to do with the problem. Responsible parenting, a good education, and
less government involvement in people's lives are the solutions to this
"problem".
A state issue (because of a Federal Act) and serious issue that can not be ignored
One doesn't have to look past the dozens of reports in recent months from Ocean Township NJ/West Long Branch NJ and the number of young Americans who are being arrested by the police and are spending time in jail cells for drinking alcohol on private property. We had an era of prohibition, it didn't work, and political corruption and gang violence rose. A quarter century later and the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 has not deterred young Americans from drinking alcohol. This act has only led to more young Americans being fined or treated as criminals, which has led many to drinking unsupervised or irresponsibly, just as many Americans were treated as criminals and forced to enter dangerous and illegal establishments during the prohibition era. At a time when reports are indicating that 1 in 100 Americans is in jail or prison, the last thing we need is to be taking the youth of America out of school, or out of the work force, and starting them off in life with a criminal record for drinking alcohol at the "wrong age".
Another federal act that discriminates based on age and essentially
forces states to maintain a 21 year old drinking age is the Federal Highway
Transportation funding which is provided to states only if the states set
their drinking age at, or above, 21. In order to give the people of each state
the ability to even vote to lower the drinking age in their state, the
threat of losing funding for highways must first be eliminated.
Additionally, the notion that the raised drinking age has somehow saved lives is entirely inaccurate; statistics prove that the number of drunk driving deaths indeed lowered in the 18-21 age bracket (which politicians love to celebrate), but deaths increased in the 21 to 25 age bracket, only shifting the problem. Is the next step to raise the drinking age to 25, 30, 35 then? No, because based on evidence, the drunk driving deaths would shift again, and criminal activity would only increase. Clearly the next step is to eliminate this discriminatory policy and promote the freedom of parents to take responsibility for educating their young offspring and ensuring the safety of their children.
Politicians who support age restrictions are ignoring their constitutional duty to represent all people. Young people are citizens of this great nation and not only deserve equal representation, but demand equal representation. The days of career politicians who alienate the youth of America are coming to an end. Support Youth Rights in NJ's 6th Congressional District
The criminalization of our youth occurs ALL of the time, for no reason:
March 19, 2008, Sea Bright police charge partygoers with underage drinking -
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/NEWS/80319033 - all 18 or older
March 12, 2008, In Ocean Township, 14 charged in connection with underage drinking incident -
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080312/NEWS/80312042 - all 18 or older
March 19, 2008, Ocean Township police charge 13 for underage drinking -
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/NEWS/80319004