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Monday Feb 27, 2006
Reducing voting age to 16 and other ways to revitalise Britain's democracy
A commission called the Power Inquiry, set up in 2004 to consider how to increase and deepen political participation in Britain - particularly in light of the low turnout in the 2001 general election - has published a report based on 18 months of investigating. This tome describes we Brits' apparent disengagement from government and makes recommendations to ensure all have a greater say in the policies affecting our lives.
While we are more apparently intimate with the psychological lives of our politicians, we may be more alienated than before from the world of the "politicos". It's not a matter of our apathy; indeed, we're volunteering and promoting particular issues like crazy. As the commission's chair Helena Kennedy writes in the report's introduction,
"People in Britain still volunteer; they run in marathons for charity; they hold car boot sales to raise funds for good causes; they take part in Red Nose days and wear ribbons for breast cancer or AIDS. They sit as school governors, do prison visiting, read with children who have learning difficulties. They take part in school races and run the school disco. They march against the Iraq war and in favour of the countryside. They sign petitions for extra street lights and more frequent bin collection. They send their savings to the victims of tsunamis and want to end world poverty. What they no longer want to do is join a party or get involved in formal politics."
To an extent this is also true in the United States, where I've lived most of my adult years and where the two major political parties sometimes seem to differ more in personality than in policy (though both have shifted to the right). While among my mostly left-leaning acquaintances, Bush's first win of the presidential election galvanised us to canvass for the alternative, our perception of distorted vote-counting and an almost impenetrable administration left us cold. We could change more, perhaps, on a local level, and we could rally around particular issues. But in the meantime, voting is low and politicians don't know that we care.
One of Power's key recommendations is to reduce the voting age to 16 in Britain. Automatic voter registration could be dealt with as NI numbers are handed out. I think that provides a great parallel, as both political participation and the opportunity to do paid work are hallmarks of an engaged citizenship.
Editorial in the Guardian welcomes the report, noting its "holistic approach" to recognise the complexity of polictical apathy , but states that "it tends to blur perceptions and facts". It reminds readers of an Electoral Commission report two years ago, which indicated the general public (including young people) did not want the voting age lowered. According to the Daily Telegraph too, senior politicians of both main parties are generally supportive of the report. Mind you, they'd look a little silly if they weren't. But it's a good step, I think.
Posted by Kirsten Olson ( 4:51 PM ) Link to this post Comments[1]
What the hell is that supposed to mean? That the moment we let 16s enter the ballot box we're setting ourselves up as a new member of the "axis of evil"? What a weird piece of politicing.
Posted by Dom Waghorn on February 28, 2006 at 09:33 AM GMT+00:00 #