Children are counted in the census, yet have no voice when voting (for obvious reasons). The parents should be able to vote on their behalf. This encourages families, and gives parents a more appropriate balance to policies that impact them differently because they have children.
STRONGLY OPPOSE. Adults contribute resources to a shared system. One adult should not be able to compel the shared resources contributed by another without equal input…especially since public resources are finite (or should be) and allocation to one program means reduced allocation to another. In addition, being a parent or an adult does not mean that a person applies their own or shared public resources wisely or that they have the most effective or beneficial ideas for children or families. That said, all citizens have a vested interest in our youngest citizens and future participants and should be considering structures, processes, and resources that effectively (with quantifiable measures) impact the health, wellbeing, and literacy of children and families.
Disagree. Those without young children do not have the same care for the future - how many studies do you need to see that prove this?
Studies that prove people without children don’t care about the future?
Again, someone having more children does not give them the right by default to have greater input or say about the shared resources that are a portion of each adults’ contribution from their labor. And whether a parent cares more relative to someone else about the future, the present, themselves, their children or society really depends upon the individual. Parents should have the greater input in THEIR OWN children’s lives and education and to that end the resources allotted to their own children being at their disposal to be maximized and directed by the parents certainly should be on the table and there should also be consideration for helping children whose parents aren’t as invested in their academic success in reading, writing, and arithmetic (health and wellness…but you can see where the definitions of that differ even between parents). There should be discussions about what strengthens families and parents so they can do the job of providing and parenting and participating in their children’s lives well and the best general applications of resources…but no…an ‘of age adult’ should not get extra VOTES as a representative for their child/children . SEE EXAMPLE BELOW for how sticky this suggestion gets: One parent has 2 children, another parent has 5 children…if the parent with 5 children disagrees with the philosophies of the parent of 2 children, then the parent of 5 children can impose their will on the parent of 2 children. There is no singular “children’s philosophy”, so the one parent is effectively using the number of children in their family to assert their own will over the application of resources and public provisions. Just to be clear, I have all of the concerns for and value society being supportive of families and children and am a parent…but the VOTE is the sticking point. The VOTE should always be 1:1 value for each adult citizen. We can get the other things done as well, but those should be hashed out at the state, local, community level as different communities have different needs. An example of that might be that one community gets together and has an actual vote that determines the kids need a recreation center and money gets allotted to it. Another community may not need a rec center…they meet at the local church to discuss the number of struggling single parents that are in the cycle of needing daycare to work, but being unable to get money for daycare without going to work first, so they start a reduced cost daycare for single mothers due to the number in their community with a deferred payment for the first two months. On a federal level or state government level, perhaps a congressional vote to give employers a percentage tax break if they offer employees remote work options or extended maternity/paternity leave. As far as the VOTE - 1:1 adult citizens.
Children aren’t mentally capable to understand complex political subjects to vote on. If a parent votes for them, the parent is actually casting a double vote or triple (depending on how many kids they have,) for themselves. That is cheating the voting process. Not a well thought out idea.