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Student Representation In Congress

Students have opinions too!!!!!
  (+4, -7)
(+4, -7)
  [vote for,
against]

I'm not that involved with politics or the news, and I'm probably not that informed, but I think that there should be a student representative in Congress. In my civics class today, we talked about how America is in the worst debt it has ever been in and how the Bush admnistration doesn't tell the whole truth about everything. An example is the Downing Memo, which we talked about today also.

The people in my class are very opinionated and seemed to have pretty good thoughts on this, and I think that younger people have better ideas than adults a lot of the time. I'm sure Congress can benefit from having a different viewpoint and citizens can be better represented if there was a younger representative.

There might be conflict as to how a young person could vote on bills and laws when they would have less experience, but the representative elected would have to be qualified and able to make responible decisions.

hobbitcoat, May 23 2005

UKYP http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/
[RobertKidney, May 25 2005]

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       I think you'll find that Bush has lied to you about most things.   

       Can you define at what age you think people should be eligible to vote ? Students aged 18+ are able to vote in most countries :)
neilp, May 23 2005
  

       Yeah, anyone put into congress is going to have to be a voter, which means 18+, which means they'll be too old to speak of the innocent ramblings that you desire spoken... unless, of course, they are mildly retarded, but then we're talking about having retards in congress, and that's pretty risky.
daseva, May 23 2005
  

       Not too bad for a first idea :)   

       Though the above point (18+) sort of nullifies this idea.   

       Keep thinking though, and welcome!
DesertFox, May 23 2005
  

       I would think that any ideas that contain "...Bush administration doesn't..." and [neilp]'s annotation are quite obviously "marked for deletion, advocacy"
theircompetitor, May 23 2005
  

       I'm not sure 'lowering the age at which you can vote' strictly qualifies as a halfbaked idea, although a suggestion that we'd be able to filter out (democratically) those who are "qualified and able to make responible decisions." is certainly half-thought-through.
neilp, May 24 2005
  

       Good idea. (and I should think that anybody old enough to got to university is 18+?) But it opens up more possibilities. Students are represented in congress, Devout believers, businesspeople, Doctors and nurses, truckdrivers etc. we can call it walk of life politics.
zeno, May 24 2005
  

       //I'm not that involved with politics or the news, and I'm probably not that informed//   

       In which case, what makes you think you are qualified to comment in this area? It's great that you're humble enough to admit holes in your knowledge but to posit an idea like this and do it justice, you want to have some idea of what's what. Your intentions seem good but reading this post was painful - a near-perfect walkthrough of the "young and ignorant" cliche.

Please accept my apologies for being spiky, it just boils my blood when people confuse the right to hold an opinion with the responsibility of everyone else to regard said opinion as worthwhile. Welcome to the Bakery, I hope to bun your next idea!
DocBrown, May 24 2005
  

       \\What makes you think you are qualified to comment in this area?\\ Because Anti-Mucus Nostril Sacs was written about a topic you were well informaed about?   

       \\having retards in congress, and that's pretty risky\\ That'll be the day.
hidden truths, May 24 2005
  

       The most obvious difference [hidden truths] is that there aren't (to my limited knowledge) any products on the market which are inserted into the nose to block sneezes, besides the common hanky, and that's more an external blocker than a pre-prepared internal thing. Therefore, ideas like mine and [lostdog]'s had a fresh page to doodle on, so to speak.

[hobbitcoat] has chosen to draft an idea in an area where there's been a lot of thought and there's a huge amount of stuff to be aware of before you can even start to hold an informed opinion. I'm not suggesting that we should limit ourselves to input in fields where we hold expertise , because that would destroy the whole "happy go lucky, duct tape and a muttered prayer perhaps it will work..." nature of the place but I think if you are going to come up with something that's not intended to be funny in an area that is so well-explored already like politics or automotive technology you would do well to do a little reading at least.

Like I said before, sorry for being spiky. Peace and love.
DocBrown, May 24 2005
  

       Dear Young One: You need not have to vote to change the times. Look back at the 60s and 70s. They changed the country with just their insistance, The Beatles, pot and Rock 'n Roll. But they were in the majority. (Baby Boom Generation).   

       You are not in the "majority." The now old fart Baby Boomers are.   

       So you have to come up with another idea that catches the public's fancy. Voting is so much BS. Mount a force, a team, turn heads, twist minds and GO FOR IT!
MauiChuck, May 24 2005
  

       Okay, kid, in the adult world, politics are shaped entirely by money. People with no money are communists, with a little money are democrats, and with a lot of money are republicans. There’s no thinking involved, which makes it efficient.

To keep things interesting, every few decades the republicans and democrats switch places. We’re in the middle of a switch right now.
ldischler, May 24 2005
  

       Okay, I do appreciate everyone's honesty on this and you do have a point. I should probably do some research on stuff before I present an idea. I was just feeling particulary miffed yesterday about that whole article we read in civics. I'll think about your suggestions before i put up an idea.
hobbitcoat, May 24 2005
  

       [hobbitcoat] good for you. Being miffed is the first step, most of the time. See you in the next idea.
DocBrown, May 24 2005
  

       You mean there are steps beyond being miffed? I never really considered "loading up the shotgun" to be a step, per se.   

       Oh, and can we do away with the multiple exclamation points? They don't get lonely if you only leave one...
justaguy, May 24 2005
  

       We don't let kids vote because they are self-centered, ignorant boobs interested only in status, sex and having "fun."
ato_de, May 24 2005
  

       Personally I would prefer to have no blame for the Government that was elected.
hidden truths, May 24 2005
  

       Well, two is sometimes effective...   

       //We don't let kids vote because they are self-centered, ignorant boobs interested only in status, sex and having "fun."//   

       Now, now, wait for monday...
daseva, May 24 2005
  

       A village in Texas is missing it's student idiot.
mensmaximus, May 24 2005
  

       Well I was going to suggest a student organization that works on political issues, but I figured that there was probably already one of those, so I put up the idea for a student rep in Congress instead.   

       [justaguy] Maybe the exclamation points won't get lonely if there's only one, but I like to exaggerate my anger and multiple exclamation points is better than capital letters so...
hobbitcoat, May 24 2005
  

       There are many things which will seem like good ideas to those without real-world experience, even though they are in fact lousy ideas. Many of these notions will benefit certain people at the expense of many others; there are thus certain advocacy groups trying to pursuade gullible people to support them.
supercat, May 25 2005
  

       I gotta second jacquio999's point. We wouldn't be hearing from students, we'd be hearing parroted party lines from their indoctrinating teachers and professors. "I suggest a government where the state has total power over the individual and complete elimination of human rights but only allowing real nice people to be in charge." "Good idea Buffy, now meet me after class to discuss ways we improve your grade even further. And wear that mini skirt you had on the other day."   

       No thanks.   

       Consider this butt paddling your newbie hazing ritual. They do it to everybody. You should see what they hit my first idea with. Phew! I'm still in counseling.   

       Welcome aboard.
doctorremulac3, May 25 2005
  

       Wow, I've only had this on for like three days and look at all the annotations. I didn't think people would be that interested. Then again, the people on this site would have to very opinionated...has anybody noticed how that word looks like onion?
hobbitcoat, May 25 2005
  

       And remember: If you feel like everybody is attacking you for your opinion, opinion is pinata spelled sideways. (Sort of)
doctorremulac3, May 25 2005
  

       No idea about the US, but there is a UK youth parliament(UKYP, now that's an unfortunate acronym*).   

       It doesn't have any official role in running the country and to be honest I don't even know how it works, but it shows that if you are really interested then people are thinking about this sort of thing.   

       *See UKIP, the UK independence party.
RobertKidney, May 25 2005
  

       There are lots of people who are not in Congress. Most people are not. Their representatives are supposed to represent their interests. That includes the interests of people too young to vote. [Hobbitcoat]. I gather you are in the US. Why don't you write to your representative and see what you get back?
bungston, May 25 2005
  

       I'm extremely lazy that's why. But maybe I'll get around to it.
hobbitcoat, May 26 2005
  

       Well I have lots of things to do for the end of school so cut me some slack.   

       And technically it's Miss FrodoJacket.
hobbitcoat, May 28 2005
  

       Take the time to send a letter to your representative and have the distinction of representing 100,000 fellow constituents who never got around to writing one themselves.
mensmaximus, May 29 2005
  


 

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