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Was giving eighteen-year-olds the right to vote a mistake? Discuss.

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Was giving eighteen-year-olds the right to vote a mistake? Discuss.
Was giving eighteen-year-olds the right to vote a mistake? Discuss. I believe that for the time period, it was not a mistake to give eighteen-year-olds the right to vote. However, I do not believe that the succeeding generations deserve that right. If it was possible to change the voting age back to 21 with a clause allowing younger military, students and political party members to vote that would be ideal in my opinion. In 1971 the voting age was dropped to 18. This decision came about during the tremendous loss from the Vietnam War. Just thirty years earlier the draft age was lowered to 18. Within that time, American youth were drafted in the many battles of World War II and the Cold War. Vietnam was the straw that broke the camel's back for the youth of America. After all, if an eighteen-year-old was mature enough to fight and die for America, why were they not allowed to participate in voting for their leader? The sad reality is, since 1972 participation from voters between 18 and 21 has been on a decline. It’s in the nature of the American teenager to take for granted the progress made by their preceding generation. I was appalled during this most recent election to hear young adults brag about writing in Mickey Mouse for president. Countless teenagers, posting on their social networks, complained about how annoying election season is. They threatened to remove anyone who tried to express the importance of voting. The majority of the present 18 to 21 year old Americans seem to be ignorant at worst and apathetic at best. Let’s say we take the above mentioned gag voters out of the equation and just focus on the ones who vote for legitimate candidates. As much as eighteen-year-olds like to think they do have their own opinions, I would say most people at that age have not developed their own opinions. If they don’t still believe what their parents taught them, simply because their parents were the ones teaching them that, then they intentionally and
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