A Republican presidential candidate wants to propose a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age from 18 to 25.
Tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy plans to introduce his proposal during a campaign stop in Iowa with Governor Kim Reynolds (R).
The former CEO told Fox News Digital that he plans to announce a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age from 18 to 25, unless a person serves the nation in the military or as a first responder or can pass the civics test immigrants take when becoming citizens.
“We’re going to be talking about this to a large audience of actually young people in Iowa,” Ramaswamy said. “Gov. Kim Reynolds is going to be there tomorrow. There was going to be the perfect place to roll this out tomorrow night to lay out one of the most, I think, bluntly, ambitious proposals we’ve rolled out in this campaign.
“Which is to say that we want to restore civic duty in the mindset of the next generation of Americans. And how we want to do it is to say that, if you want to vote as an 18-year-old, between the ages of 18 and 25, you need to either do your civic duty through service to the country — that’s six months of service in either military service or as a first responder, police, fire or otherwise — or else you have to pass the same civics test an immigrant has to pass in order to become a naturalized citizen who can vote in this country.”
“At age 25, that falls away,” he added.
The GOP candidate also said his proposed amendment would “supercede” the 26th Amendment that sets the national voting age to 18.
Ramaswamy noted that the 26th Amendment was passed in 1971 and that one “of the arguments for that was that if you’re going to have a draft, military draft, that brings 18-year-olds in, then they ought to have the right to vote.”
amaswamy said he hopes the amendment will help younger Americans get out and vote more by “making voting something that’s a true privilege by attaching real civic duty to it.”
“I think we will make it more desirable to vote by actually adding more meaning to the act of voting rather than just emotion that people go through or accustomed to going through. And I think that will actually be positive for our civic culture. And I also think that this can be unifying,” he explained. “Whether you’re the kid of a billionaire in the Upper East Side of Manhattan or whether you’re the daughter of a single mother in the inner city, it doesn’t matter. You have the same requirements to be part of the special group of people at a young age who get to participate in deciding who governs the country. And I think that restores a sense of civic equality and a sense of civic duty that we have long missed in our country.”
I agree entirely. Exceptions for those who serve in the military and first responders. Voting at 18 lets people who never worked and paid taxes or had to save for a house and support a family or even pay off their college loans make electoral decisions having little appreciation of the consequences.
Also, we currently have captive audiences attending college who are often subjected to barrages of liberalism from instructors wishing to re-live their 1960’s anti-Vietnam war protest days.
I agree 100%!
The Liberal Snow Flakes, Entitled feeling kids that just want the checks to arrive from Mom,Dad, Grand Parents or some other relation or handout, And the Democrats that put them in believing life’s a free ride without working for it are going to LOSE THEIR 💩 over this !! I have no words, for EXCITED I AM TO SEE IT HAPPEN !!! Vivek might not get the majority vote from the GOP this time , but I think he’s going to be a Great Addition and fresh new young blood in the future !!! I used to like DeSantos as a VP but he got ahead of himself biting the Trump hand that fed him his Governorship in Florida. Also he let his handlers do his thinking , leading him down a too aggressive path. He should have rode the Trump Train back as his VP but I think Trump already deep sized that idea ??? Now VIVEK may not be the most house hold name along with his faith isn’t Christianity ( I don’t have issue with it before someone wants to tag me with some obscene name ) which Bible Belt Groups may not like it . But this country needs to Drain the Cess Pool of Traitors and the people under George Soros thumb because he feeds them money and lots of it !!! Start hanging Traitors again and see how fast the roaches run and squeal on their buddies in crime!! This next Presidential Election will be our LAST OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK !!
Agree. We no longer have a draft, so no one is compelled to serve at 18+.
Wonderful idea! Do it!
Ir isn’t going to be easy. We are no longer a country with principles, although this is a principled stand. But most will simply look at it and determine what the effect will be of having the 18-25 year olds out of the voting process and vote depending on that result.
Let me see: Career politicians passing an amendment that will limit their influence over the most impressionable segment of the electorate? I’d give better odds to their term-limiting themselves.
This age proposal makes sense. the Founding Fathers felt that a person should have sufficient experience by age to be comfortable in decision matters.
The Constitution states a person of 34 would meet those criteria to be President of the United States. A student of eighteen years, in our present education system does not meet those standards.
I believe EVERYONE 21 years old (in every state) should be able to smoke, drink alcohol, vote, serve their time in the Military AND change gender if they want.
21 or older ONLY!!!
Sounds reasonable to me… I especially like the serving in the this country’s military, or first responders for at least 2 years. Any detrimental behavior would push that privilege up by a year.. any action taken against this country by subversion or homeland terrorism will be extradited to a willing & expectable of their choice.If you don’t like it here …leave and go make the world a better place to flourish from. Sounds harsh and a bit communistic but that’s what they’ve been trying to lead us to. So another word for heading down the road is “they left.” GIve them the choice or get with the program whiney.
If they are drafted at 18 a plateau has been set for these young men to serve our country and die for it and I see no reason for an American citizen 18 or older not being able to vote. Next, they may want to deal with gender restriction and God only knows what other off-the-wall restrictions will arise thereafter. Old enough to work, pay taxes, and die for the country old enough to vote as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it’s time for politicians to do more outreach and work harder to get to meet and greet the people the intend to server thereby learning more fully of what motivates their actions and thinking helping them to better serve.
Hooray & Yes
THe neo-Marxists have so infiltrated universities, colleges, teacher’s unions and public education, our children are subjected to brain washing for many years preparing them to vote for socialism. Once they have to enter the job market and support themselves, many realize the promises of socialism are false. Vivek’s proposal makes a lot of sense to me, and would be useful in producing informed voters, which are imperative in a democracy.
I just love it when a politician steps into the sunlight and proves he/she is just another witless wonder. During two of the worst years of the Vietnam War (1968-69) I took command of over 200 young soldiers (mean age 21.5) serving in an infantry company. I was 25.5 years when I took command of the unit. During my 26 years of military service and as many more as a civilian police chief I never met a politician nor bureaucrat I would trust as I did those young soldiers. In fact I left government service warning the citizens of my community that the greatest threat to their very way of life was the hoards of self-serving/witless/corrupt/incompetent/cowards populating American’s political class and bureaucracies. Soldier/Cop/Grunt, Retired
LMAO…that won’t stop niggeRAT party cheating.