“Let's take a moment to honor the sacrifice of our brave schoolchildren who lay down their lives to protect our right to bear arms.” That quote by our own Gordon20024 got me to thinking.
The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 by the 26th Amendment, proposed on 23 March 1971 and passed three months later on 1 July. It was the Vietnam War era, and the logic was impeccable and inescapable, a self-evident truth:
If you are old enough to die for your country, you are old enough to vote.
The slaughter in our schools has reached the point of comparison to war. Unlike the "duck and cover" drills of the 1950s, preparing for a war that never came, today’s “lockdown drills" prepare for attacks that come again, and again, and again: 18 school shootings this year, on average three attacks every week.
Enough is enough, and enough was enough hundreds of dead children ago.
Proposal: The 28th Amendment.
Using the language of the 26th Amendment, it is as straightforward as can be:
“Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States, who are sixteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
Section 2: The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Strategy: Propose nationally, pass locally, until “tsunami!”
First: No pre-emptive defeatism: no “it isn't going to happen” BS. The equal right to marriage “wasn’t going to happen” either, and now it’s the settled law of the land and there is no going back. Demand this, do not back down. The only question is HOW we are going to get from here to there.
Second: Get a few strong Democrats in the House and Senate to propose it, and any Republicans who wish to join up are welcome. Put it on the agenda and start working the constitutional machinery. With each new school slaughter, the case for it will become stronger and stronger until it is overwhelming. Apologies if the preceding sentence sounded even the slightest bit cynical, but it also happens to be true.
Third: Introduce equivalent measures in municipalities, for the 16-year-old vote in local elections. Do it now. This can be done by municipal ordinance, to allow 16-year-olds to vote in their local elections. They will be able to vote for Mayor, vote for City Council, and, importantly, vote for their local Boards of Education. This by itself will bring a tsunami of change at the local level. The wave will continue as these new young voters turn 18 and vote in state and national elections, increasing the youth vote as a force to be respected. The equal right to marry got started locally, in the city of San Francisco, and then snowballed its way through court cases and elections, wins and losses, to its ultimate Supreme Court victory.
Tactic: the logical triple-bind:
A double-bind is a logic trap where you’re “damned if you do, and damned if you don't.” A triple-bind consists of three equally-bad options.
That is where we want to put Republicans: in a logical triple-bind from which there is no escape, that will force their hand. We can do that by offering them three options they will find “equally bad” (and Democrats will find are all good to put in their own platforms!) as follows:
One: Pass the 28th Amendment, using the same language as the 26th (see above).
Two: Alternately, pass a law setting the age for purchase and ownership of firearms and ammunition the same as the age for voting. Require that any possession or use of a firearm by a person below that age requires the presence and active supervision of a parent or legal guardian. Include effective enforcement measures such as "decoy buys" that are routine for alcohol and tobacco.
The very fact of so many teenage shooters demonstrates that there is no effective and enforced minimum age for possession or ownership of guns & ammo, with the results that we observe, splashed in red on our TV screens. While we’re at it, this law should also close the "gun show" loophole and the “internet purchase" loophole, by requiring all transfers of ownership (defined not as “title" but as “more-than-casual possession, and/or effective control”) to go through federally-licensed dealers and criminal background checks.
Three: Add complete and unconditional mental health coverage to Obamacare, on the same terms as other forms of coverage that presently exist.
Republicans have been using “mental health” as a dodge to avoid discussing effective gun safety laws. It is time to call their bluff. If they “really mean it” about mental health, they will take the steps needed to make it happen. If they refuse to take those steps, they are exposed as viciously lying at the expense of hundreds of dead children.
Fight: We can do this!
We can immediately get started with Democrats in the House and Senate introducing the 28th Amendment, and any city or town passing the 16-year-old vote for municipal elections.
As this gets media attention (and "social media” attention, but watch out for Russian trolls & bots), the young folks who are standing up and speaking out right now will pick it up and run with it. They will become an unstoppable force.
They deserve our support and they deserve the right to vote. We can and must make it so.
(Note, I’ll be around later this afternoon to reply to comments.)