taxation without representation: give kids the vote!

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following the moveon.org winning ad theme to its logical conclusion, bush's fiscal insanity means spend now and pay later, much later, leaving the tab for our children.

many have suggested avoiding the 'deficit spending' problem by simplistically requiring a balanced budget. i think this is unrealistic. there are appropriate times to run a deficit, just as there are appropriate times for a household to borrow. therefore there have to be exceptions, and once there are exceptions, there are politicians who will cheat the system, rendering a balanced-budget requirement almost meaningless.

the real problem, of course, is that the electorate is not the one paying the bill. in effect, children are taxed without representation. historically, the solution to taxation without representation, beyond a messing boston harbor, was to give the vote to those who would be taxed.

so, how about giving kids the vote?

well, the obvious problem is that below a certain age, be it 21, 18, or 16; children do not fully comprehend what a vote means. putting aside the fact that most adults probably have the same problem, it clear that you can't just let kids vote.

so, how about giving parents and legal guardians an extra vote per charge?

a single parent with 2 kids gets to cast 3 votes. one for themselves, and one each for the 2 kids.

if a kid has 2 parent eligible to vote, then each parent gets a half-vote per kid. so the father in a family of 4 gets 2 votes: one for himself and 1/2 for each of the 2 kids for a total of 2 votes.


naturally this is not perfect, nor does it completely solve the stated problem. we can still pass the debt bill on to the not-yet-born and the not-yet-conceived. this does nothing to address that. and, parents may still not vote their children's best interest, though i think the children would get better representation this way than under the current rules.

worst of all, it opens up yet another frontier for those obsessed with defining the beginning of life. hmm. maybe kids only count after their first birthday, sidestepping that issue entirely....



whaddya think? dumb idea? sure, but tell me why?

[ButterflyBlood]

1. I don't like the voting for kids idea

fundies have more kids, and now they'll reproduce like rabbits to help their cause even more.

[mitchtv]

2. as a single person , watching parents pay less taxes

after each child they have. Guess how I would vote.what a hare brained idea.I'm sure they'd vote for more taxation on singles.

[Hippo_Tron]

3. Yeah dumb idea...

Lots of parents think that the Republicans are helping their kids' future and that the Democrats will destroy it.