Dear @agmoore,
thank you for your comment which I much appreciate.
In the U.S. this would result in weighting the electorate toward the less educated and those who are observant (religious.)
I think a more educated electorate would yield better results, and I don't want the influence of religion in my country getting any stronger.
- "would yield better results" - who defines "better"?
- I argue that equal voting rights would imply that children have the right to vote. This is a moral and juridical argument, not a utilitarian one. In my opinion it's not relevant if and how the election results would change by this change in the electoral law. Sure, it would shuffle politics quite a bit. Perhaps Democrats would be forced to get more rational concerning "family policy" (what an ugly term).
- Do people who are more "educated" vote better, or are some of them educated fools? How much value does a university degree have? Some of those educated people may not be religious in the traditional sense, but they have their own beliefs (David Foster Wallace would say: There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.). Some of those educated people were utterly incapable of objecting against trans-gender surgery in minors or against a male boxer (Imane Khelif) beating up a female boxer in the Olympics. Moral compass lacking?
- When I was at university I encountered a lot of self-absorbed, complacent young people who lacked "common sense" and who haven't worked a single day in their life (though being already 25). That didn't stop them from knowing everything better and talking disparagingly about non-academics (who, by the way, pay for / subsidize the university and these young people's prolonged adolescence). Do such people really vote better? I'd prefer people who have both feet on the ground.
- The western world (including the US) is in a deep demograpic crisis. If religious (Christian) people have on average significantly more children, one could argue that the US needs more of those people.
Excellent points, @zuerich.
That these people have no system of belief simply does not stand up to close scrutiny. Of course they do, whether openly and honestly acknowledged or not.
I am highly educated, as these people view the word. And as an engineer. As such, intentionally avoiding ALL of the philosophical types of courses which are intentionally designed to subvert the minds of the young people passing through them.