A law professor at the University of Tennessee has advocated to repeal the 26th Amendment and re-instate the voting age as 21 instead of 18.
Glenn Reynolds, swayed by recent events at the University of Missouri and Yale University, argues that “18-year-olds of today aren’t up to that task” of being able “to participate in adult political discussions” in USA Today.
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After recounting part of the controversy that led to protests at Yale, Reynolds summarizes his rationale:
Even though Reynolds has thought that, given the threat of a draft, ability to marry, and serve on juries, it “seemed plausible at the time” to pass the 26th Amendment in 1971, he was “starting to reconsider.”
The 2010 Census estimated that the U.S. had 17 million eligible young voters between 18 and 21 years old. Disenfranchising them would be exceedingly difficult as a political maneuver.
Reynolds also assumes that the protests should be understood as a failure to respect free speech and tolerance of disagreement. That’s a questionable premise, however. At Yale, for example, much of the discontent has centered around a false presentation of student life at Yale and a lack of mental health support, along with underlying racial issues that haven’t been properly addressed in the minds of students.
The status of free speech on campuses is a concern throughout American higher education, as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has documented, but revoking suffrage for the youth based on a couple anecdotes could lack prudence.
Revoking the franchise would also punish the many students who understand and respect free speech, as Reynolds has assuredly met in his stint as a professor. Punishing the many for the failures of a few would be a worrisome trend. Nor, it should be noted, do college students stand alone in calling for speech restrictions. The same arguments from adults can be found in The New Yorker, for instance. Just as conservatives and liberals call for restrictions on speech and toleration in different circumstances, so it is for the youth and the elderly in America.
Reynolds raises an important issue of protecting free speech, extending tolerance to other political opinions, and crafting a healthy and enduring political society. Specifically targeting the youth, however, does little to further his goals while unfairly smearing millennials.
