blog entries for 2004/4/3

entry #1

:: A push for children's voting rights. Spiegel Online has an interesting article. It says that the Bundestag in Germany has debated over the introduction of the right to vote for children, beginning at birth. This would increase the voting population of germany by 14 million.

Now, the article was published on first of April, and the Bundestag doesn't mention anything like it. But the actual idea has been around for a while. Here's how it's supposed to work:

Parents would vote for their children until the kids were mature enough to do it themselves. Opponents call it an "attack on democracy", arguing that the "one man, one vote" principle is torpedoed by such measures, while others claim it would give more political weight to young persons' interests and create an alltogether fairer distribution of voting power. From the article in Spiegel Online:

Eine Gleichheit der Stimmen werde durch das derzeitige Wahlrecht verhindert, argumentieren sie: Ein kinderloses Ehepaar habe schliesslich an der Wahlurne genau doppelt so viel politisches Gewicht wie eine Alleinerziehenden-Familie mit drei Kindern - in der aber zweimal so viele Staatsbürger leben.

I for one think that the proposed voting right from birth is a pretty good idea. I hope they give it a chance.

[posted at 2004-04-03 13:48:00] TrackBack