Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the Republican presidential race after his poor showing in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, when he carried less than 8% of the vote. Part of his problem may have been that instead of trying to win support, he campaigned to make it harder for young Americans to cast ballots.
“Only 23% of adults under 30 say patriotism is very important to them, and 23% of Americans under 25 vote,” Ramaswamy wrote last year in the Wall Street Journal.
His solution was to propose a 28th constitutional amendment, which would raise the minimum voting age to 25, except for young adults who pass a civics exam or serve in the military or as first responders.
While the premise of Ramaswamy’s idea is worthwhile — voting should be tied to civic duty — his proposal would only advance the incoherent views Americans have on adulthood and responsibility.
In other words, if his amendment were to pass, it would prolong adolescence and immaturity.
Ramaswamy’ss statistics ignore the bigger picture. National pride may have dipped, but Gen Z’s voter turnout in elections is proving to be higher than those of previous generations.
In the 2022 midterm election, 28.4% of young adults between the ages of 18-24 voted — outpacing millennials, Gen X, and boomers who voted at the same age, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Perhaps lower levels of national pride actually increase civic engagement, at least for members of Gen Z.
Ramaswamy also doesn’t address the other problems that increasing the voting age raises. If young people are incapable of voting, why should they be allowed to drive cars, drink beer, and get married before it? Why should they have to pay taxes?
Under Ramaswany’s constitutional amendment, a young American could drive at 16, get married at 18, drink at 21, and vote at 25.
In other words, at the age of 18 young people can determine their life partner, but not their two-year elected representative.
Ramaswamy’s exemptions — such as a civics exam or six months of service as a first responder or as a member of the military — are better as commentaries on American social decline than as solutions to the problem.
A civics exam, for instance, is not the magical solution to unlocking national pride. Most high schoolers across the country are required to spend at least a semester studying the American political system. Forty states require a civics course as part of their high-school curriculum, according to CIRCLE.
If young Americans after their high-school graduation are still uneducated on the historical and political development of America, then that is a failure of the education system, not the voting system. It requires an educational correction.
Compulsory military service also doesn’t guarantee national pride. Six months of military service or as a first responder isn’t going to change that.
And, on a practical level, six months of service is barely enough time to complete basic training, much less have the on-the-job experience which would, according to Ramaswamy’s theory, grow national pride.
National pride flourishes when people believe they have a bright future under competent leadership. When Gen Z looks at Washington, it sees House members whose average age is 58, senators whose average age is 65 years old, and an octogenarian president. Even the man who beat Ramaswamy in Iowa is old: Donald Trump is 77.
We see more senility than virility.
Let’s change our country — but not the voting age.
