Have you ever thought to yourself. What’s going on with the world ? I don’t think we can easily escape the political turmoil. With the age of social media, the digital revolution means that news appears in front of our eyes. Whoosh – it’s there !
What is President Trump going to Tweet next ? Is Brexit really going to happen, will there be a deal or no deal ? Is PM Theresa May going to get through a speech, without the set falling apart ?
It’s certainly an age of rapid political change. And that’s why it’s the perfect time to debate and enact voting at 16. I have always supported lowering the age to 16. And looking at what’s happening in the political world today, we need it more now than ever before.
The reason I am saying this, is that we need more and more people to engage in their democracy. I believe that if you engage young people in their democracy, then in the future we won’t have all this political turmoil that we are going through today !!!!
Education, in how their Government systems work. What is government structure, what services do Councils provide ? How the tax system works and the services that our taxes pay for. All this should be part of an education package in secondary schools. Understanding how it all works and enabling young people to take ownership of their democracy. Imagine how this will benefit future generations – having that knowledge.
Young people need to be included in decisions that will affect their future and the future of their society. By including young people at 16, they will know that they will have to be listened to. This is not only good for their generation, but also for older generations. Young people bring new ideas, they will revitalise the tired political system.
A great website to visit for all the reasons to have Votes at 16 is http://www.votesat16.org
Also on Friday Nov 3rd in Parliament there is the second reading of Votes at 16 – so ask your MP to attend to support.
