#BTColumn – Monkey handling vote

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Grenville Phillips

There has been another school mass shooting in the US. Since the US has politicised this issue, it is foreseen that there will be many more school mass shootings.

When a problem becomes politicised, the solution is not normally determined by reason, but by what is politically expedient – which tends to be the worst possible solution.

For generations around the world, it was accepted that children fully transitioned into adulthood at 21. There were individual exceptions, but to protect the public, governments generally did not give children adult responsibilities until
they reached 21.

THE TRANSITION

Our primary school age children may think that they are ready for adult responsibilities. But most parents know that their 18-year olds are not fully ready for the liabilities of adulthood – they are transitioning. Parents are responsible for managing this transition by introducing their children to age-appropriate responsibilities, and not forcing them to prematurely accept adult liabilities.

The transition into adulthood for most, was found to start at 18 years. Therefore, in the US, you could marry at 18, since you only risked harming a few people. However, if you wanted to vote, or own a gun, then you had to be 21.
There were exceptional circumstances when governments entrusted adult responsibilities to their 18-year olds. That was normally during times of war, when they were drafted into the military, whether they wanted to go or not.

Politicians trying to exploit situations to attain or maintain power, decided that our children should be allowed to vote, and own guns. They reasoned that if they could fight in wars, then they could vote – and own guns. They conveniently ignored the fact that being compelled to fight in a war is temporary, while establishing rights to vote and own guns is permanent.

NEW RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN

In 1968, US Politicians gave 18-year-olds the constitutional right to purchase guns (Gun Control Act, 1968). After this, the wave of school mass shootings in the US commenced. These mass shootings were mostly done by boys under the age of 21. The solution seems obvious, raise the age to legally own a gun back to 21. But that would mean acknowledging that the political experiment to legally make children adults by 18 had failed.

In 1971, US politicians gave 18-year-olds the constitutional right to vote. They convinced children that they were emotionally mature enough to make adult decisions. They are not, but politicians will always try to exploit any group to attain or maintain power. That is who they are, and that is what they do.

EXPLOITATION

Teenagers of the 1970s generally had more formal education than their parents. Politicians exploited the rebellious phase that teenagers normally experienced, by deceiving them that they did not need to follow the conservative ways of their parents – including their voting preferences.

Politicians also manipulated popular youth to influence their peers on what political positions were outdated, and which were trendy. That deception continues to this day.

AGE DISCRIMINATION

If we accept that children fully transition into adults at 18, then they should not be discriminated against in being given adult responsibilities and liabilities, based solely on their age – including owning guns. But to maintain political power, politicians cannot return to the sanity of accepting that most children do not fully transition to adulthood until the age of 21.

The desire to deceive immature youth to vote for their political party, is more important than stopping the carnage of school mass shootings. Many US politicians are so utterly shameless, that they consistently use every school shooting, that is a consequence of their own short-sighted policies, to convince people to vote for their political party.

BARBADOS THE FOLLOWER

In Barbados, we want to follow the US in their insane political folly. We want to manipulate our children and get them politically active. We want our children to be our Senators, reviewing and approving complex legislation that can harm us all.

They have forgotten that the one constant about children is that they are inexperienced. Our politicians have forgotten that the Senate is a place where our most experienced and knowledgeable citizens should serve – not our least experienced. By forcing our children to prematurely become politically active, we are doing them, and the public, a grave disservice.

Grenville Phillips II is a Chartered Structural Engineer. He can be reached at NextParty246@gmail.com