1st Prize Winner
Age Group 13-15

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STUDENT SUFFRAGE: Stomping Out the Last Vestiges of American Slavery

by Andy Weiss, age 15

          The recent school shootings across the country have sparked a national debate concerning the rights of children and the age of consent. Almost every prime time cable news show has paraded some expert or victim's family member in front of the American audience to cry, "Try the children as adults! Adult crimes deserve adult punishment!" The argument is valid. If a person has the maturity to steal his father's car; if that person has the maturity to break into his grandfather's arms cash; if that person has the maturity to steal high-powered rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition; if that person has the maturity to aim these rifles at an unarmed crowd of schoolchildren; if that person has the maturity to squeeze a trigger twenty-four times, then that person has demonstrated his adulthood; even if he is only thirteen years old. Adult crimes do deserve adult punishment. But do adult accomplishments not deserve adult rewards?

          On March 30, 1998, I received a paycheck for two weeks' work. I received $223.13, but $39.38 was withheld and given to the United States and New Jersey governments. Without my consent, I paid $16.91 in federal taxes and $3.35 in New Jersey state taxes. Among other things, this money financed roads on which I cannot drive and paid the salaries of government officials for whom I cannot vote. In addition to federal and state taxes, I paid $13.83 in social security taxes. This money finances an unconstitutional fraudulent insurance scheme that, if I am to believe the government's own estimates, will be bankrupt long before I can ever collect from it. I also paid $3.23 in Medicare insurance, from which I cannot benefit, and $2.06 in unemployment insurance, which I also cannot collect. The United States' government sees me as an ingenious loophole source of revenue: I am old enough for them to usurp my earnings, but not old enough to drive a car, smoke a cigarette, own a firearm, operate a cash register, drink an alcoholic beverage, rent a hotel room, view an 'R' rated movie, or even vote in elections that determine where my taxes go. The 6.3% of American adults who are unemployed enjoy these rights and take them for granted. I, whose tax dollars pay for these programs, forfeit my natural rights simply because I am not eighteen years of age. (The fact that I pay the salaries of government officials who do nothing but restrict and regulate my activity seems to me reminiscent of the Chinese practice of executing a dissident and then charging his estate for the price of the bullet.) Under the United States' legal system, killing five people constitutes an adult act, worthy of adult imprisonment. However, the same United States do not recognize holding down a steady job or paying taxes as adult actions, worthy of a vote or the right to hold office. If maturity is killing five people, then for heaven's sake may I never be mature! The idea that age is a measure of maturity is simply ridiculous. Nearly half of the adult population does not bother to vote. Of the half that does, an alarming percentage votes for all the wrong reasons (i.e. He looks like he knows what he's talking about!) It seems apparent from the leaders we elect (Bill Clinton), that voters would rather have a good looking charmer who whispers sweet nothings in their ears than someone who wants to get down to business and eliminate wasteful government programs (Harry Browne). If adults did such a good job electing our leaders, maybe I wouldn't have a case. However, when reflecting upon America's last three or four presidents, I must wonder what the adults are thinking.

          All of this begs the question: what is the establishment afraid of? The government says that I do not posses that mental capability necessary for deciding who ought to be the next president: therefore I cannot vote. This implies that I am something less than a man. This argument has been used in the past to deny Native Americans land, black slaves freedom, and women the right to vote. The idea that by virtue of my age, I am not capable of voting is purely ludicrous. The establishment proclaims that if children were to vote, we would squander our power and vote foolishly. Notice the possibility that I might squander my vote denies me the ability to posses it, which ensures that it is squandered. Perhaps the establishment is afraid that if children were to vote, America would begin electing responsible officials. (Heaven forbid!)

          In 1776, Americans all across the continent exclaimed, "Taxation without representation is tyranny," yet today 26% of the population is taxed but not represented. This insures that the government will exploit children, just as King Geroge III exploited the American colonists. Slavery was abolished in 1865, yet today 26% of the population remains enslaved to petty dictators, not because they are too dark for freedom, but because they are too young. The Constitution guarantees all American citizens a Republican form of government, yet how many times has an adult uttered the phrase, "Too bad this isn't a democracy." Children all across the nation ought to stand up and declare, "This is a democracy, and I am part of it!"

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