I work with a bunch of “Young’uns,” I was just about to call them “Millennials” but according to Google, a millennial is someone who reached adulthood around the year 2000. So whatever “today’s” generation has chosen to dub themselves, I work with a bunch of them. This is both fun and infuriating. It’s fun because they are just a bunch of dumb, stupid kids, and it’s infuriating because they are just a bunch of dumb, stupid kids.
I’m about to tell a story. I want to be perfectly clear that I am NOT picking on one kid. Although it’s a true story, and only one kid is involved in it, all my annoyance is not solely directed toward this young’un. If we are all on the same page, I shall proceed.
As I walked toward a gaggle of young’uns talking, I overheard the current political situation was being discussed and of course my ears perked up. I asked one of the kids (we will call him Steve*) who is probably 19 years old, who he was going to vote for. Without a moment’s hesitation he answered: Bernie Sanders. I asked why. His answer, “He is better than Trump or Hillary.” I said, I understand you don’t like those two, but what specifically about Sanders do you like? His answer, “He is going to legalize marijuana.”
***FACE PALM***
Okay…so…I can almost understand being a one issue guy. Whatever the issue is. I have friends who believe the legalization of drugs is a good idea. And these aren’t drug-using types of guys. I’ve kicked it around and have decided legalization is not a good idea, I then BRILLIANTLY wrote about it. You can read the article by clicking HERE. Putting that issue on the back burner for a minute, I just don’t see how any rational, thinking adult could look at the current political landscape, see the direction the country is heading, and think “Oh yeah, that’s my guy because THAT’S my issue.” Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate Bernie Sanders. I think he’s an idiot peddling utopian nonsense, but I believe he is a kind-hearted, well-intended idiot. The fact he has such a following with the left is enough to make my eyes roll, but that’s really not the point. “But Danny,” you whine, “what is your point?”
Why the HELL do we allow 18 year olds to vote?
According to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, the 26th Amendment, adopted in 1971, guaranteed the “right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” The main agreements (back then) for allowing these little’ins to vote was an 18 year old could drink and be conscripted into the military, so they oughta be allowed to vote. I can almost see that. Back then, if you were old enough to drink AND kill for your country you should be allowed to have a voice. HEAR, HEAR!!!
But…in 1973 they ended the draft, in 1984 congress realized 18 year olds weren’t very bright when they drank so they changed the legal drinking age to 21, and if Obamacare taught us anything it’s that you’re not officially an adult until you are 26 and can finally get off your parents insurance. Sooo…why are we allowing these little’ins with zero life experience, who don’t own property, don’t have spouses/children, don’t pay much of anything in taxes (if they do have children and earn less then 39K they get an “Earned Income Tax credit – so they not only don’t pay in to the system, THEY GET MONEY BACK), and many of the kids between 18 and 26 don’t even have jobs (thanks to the floppy eared President they are so proud to have supported, wrecking the economy.)
What I have instinctively known for years, science has now proven. Human brains are not fully developed until the age of 25. Young people are particularly deficient in the development of their frontal lobes (prefrontal cortex), which control decision-making, complex/rational thinking, judgment, the ability to plan ahead, and resisting impulses. “Adults over the age of 25 tend to feel less sensitive to the influence of peer pressure and have a much easier time handling it.”
So we have the Bernie Sanders of the world promising FREE everything and these non-fully-developed-brained-little’in are sucking it up. Then, of course, we have just under half of the liberals with fully-developed brains, but clearly not fully functioning, jumping on the “Everything is FREE” train as well. As a grown up, I KNOW there is no such thing as a free lunch. There is no such thing as a free anything. Someone always pays. These cute little doey-eyed little-in’s are blissfully unaware they are going to be footing the bill for all these “free” goodies for the rest of their lives.
How can they not see that?
*his real name is Logan
LIFEZILLA: I proudly test ALL my articles on animals.
Great post Danny! I am so glad to see Lifezilla back in my inbox. The best line that honestly made me laugh out loud was, “His real name is Logan.” Still laughing.
Always appreciate a forceful, enlightening, humorous polemic. Good Job!!! Good to see you writing again. You should be paid for this, but won’t be, so don’t have so much fun you forget to work for a living.
Very well done.
Pssst…Logan,
It’s already legal in Colorado, duuuuuude! (with or without Bernie)
I do predict recreational cannabis will eventually be legal throughout the united states before long because prohibition is, has been and always will be a major, major FAIL!! As soon as Phillip-Morris gets onboard, it’ll be as mainstream & glamorized as bud-lite on the half-time show.
Also, the states (like Colorado) that legalized recreational marijane do currently regulate it from seed to sale and are making a $hit-ton of tax revenue for their state. Furthermore, the influx of tourism to the “legalized states” is off the charts. Other State leaders are taking notice….. & $alivating. Federal legalization will probably be way down the road even if Bernie Sanders is the next POTUS. (Which I doubt he’ll be, but who knows?)
As for the young-uns….. I believe they’re ‘wising up’ to the racketeering going on with these abominations we call college tuition loans. Many people who didn’t have a rich mommy & daddy to pay for their college schooling have naively signed on the dotted line for these expensive, over-inflated predatory high-interest school loans & they now have 100’s of thousands of dollars of debt accrued & screwing them financially for life with a capital F. These loans have to be repaid no matter what. Can’t be eliminated in bankruptcy & like the IRS….. they’ll squeeze the money out of borrowers plus interest forever. And if the job market’s tight? Yikes! Yep….you’re owned!!!
If I was a ‘young-un’ coming out of High School these days, I wouldn’t be so excited about the establishment either.
Penny for your thoughts on Trump, Cruz, Rubio & our most interesting, unexpected cameo from Mitt.
Point me to your leader. ;-D
First, I am thrilled you are writing again! I love it. Too bad your gift is wasted on such nonsense.
This is what I really love (read loathe) about Republicans lately. They claim to worship the Constitution and want to live exactly by its precepts, yet in reality they only wish to live by the parts they choose.
Raise the voting age?
Great. I happen to agree here. I definitely think 18 seems a bit young. The problem here is you can’t just raise the age to vote. We must raise the age of accountability and adulthood. It seems hardly fair to ask an 18 year old to register with the selective service in a country he is not an adult. Last time I checked we weren’t cool with child soldiers. Sure, Nixon ended the draft (one of the many reasons I think he was an outstanding President, possibly my favorite) but ending the draft in 1973 certainly does not mean it can never again be enacted. Men between the ages of 18-25 in this country are required by law to register with the military. I hate to be Captain Obvious again, but these “boys” can be called upon to serve their country if deemed necessary. How on earth do you think that can be acceptable if they are denied the right to vote? The founders of this country left Great Britain and threw a hissy fit thinking they had to give up some of their money and were not properly represented. Asking them to give their lives yet denying them a voice in the very country they may sacrifice in behalf is not only absurd, it is abhorrent. I would love to see the age raised to 25. The thought of an 18 year old child in a body bag after war makes me ill. The thought of a 25 or a 65 year old isn’t much better, but if I am forced to choose I would hope to give the 18 year old seven more years before requiring he go to war.
Voting and requiring to register with the service are only two things inherited by the age of adulthood. Let’s not forget buying a gun, getting married, agreeing to consensual sex, being held criminally responsible (now the death penalty is on the table) for behavior and actions, drink alcohol, receive medical treatment, tattoos, or piercings without parental consent, donating blood, signing contracts, changing of one’s name, sue or be sued, and several other things come with being an adult. If we find kids the right age to be put to death for their actions or to own guns, I think I am comfortable letting them vote. And if not, let’s raise the age but for the love…don’t pick and choose!!!
I normally don’t reply. But I see I failed to make an important point. I TRULY agree. I believe anyone who is in the military should be allowed to vote irrespective of age. Hear, Hear!!!!