Most people would probably agree that tobacco smoking is bad, and that it is worthwhile to try to reduce its prevalence. But the recent trend toward raising the legal minimum age for purchase from 18 to 21 is the wrong approach. One indicator of officially sanctioned ageism is policymakers’ willingness to artificially increase the length…
2016 brings with it another campaign for president (admittedly it has been going full tilt for months now), and that means it is time for NYRA to once again look into the issue of campaign contributions from young people. This is an issue NYRA has followed since 2002 when the Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance bill was…
Here is a good example of *not* ageism in action. The reporter went about this the right way. He showed support for the boy’s cause by joining it in his own way. The reporter can’t go to school and fight it in that arena, but he *can* be supportive in his role, as reporter and…
NPR’s All Things Considered reported Monday, on the air and online, about how “unlikely advocates” are pushing for a reduction in the voting age in the District of Columbia. Michelle Blackwell, NRS said, is “not your typical Washington politico. In D.C., the 44-year-old is better known as one of the top go-go singers around. ……
Building on the success of last month’s rebirth of the #16tovote on the 16th campaign, this month’s event was the first #16toVote on the 16th of 2016. With 211 unique tweets, 177 retweets, 190 likes, we are already seeing some nice growth despite this one taking place on a Saturday during a three-day weekend. Below…
Fifteen-year-old Mahsiah Imes of Jersey City, New Jersey, is leading an effort to lower the city’s voting age in local elections to 16. The Jersey Journal reports that his effort “is part of a nationwide push to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 to ignite civic engagement among younger citizens.” Imes told the…
Several European nations are considering lowering their voting age to 16. A bill to reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 in local elections is advancing in the Estonian parliament, while Ireland’s Fianna Fáil party is calling for a voting age reduction in local elections by 2019. Meanwhile, scholars at the UK’s University of…
*A few spoilers below, but not too bad In The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams brings a volatile new villain to the screen: Kylo Ren, the latest apprentice of the Dark Side, plagued by fits of rage and the same family hang-ups faced by many characters in the Star Wars franchise. But unlike most other Star…
When Hyattsville, MD lowered its voting age on January 6th, 2015- I was thrilled. It was my birthday, and the news brought joy to my heart. For so long, I was waiting for some organization or person to take the lead in the fight for youth suffrage. Hyattsville became the second city in the United…
Adultism, a term known to us in the youth rights movement, has been getting a bit of attention lately. Used, like ageism, to describe discrimination against youth (or an addiction to the attitudes, ideas, beliefs, and actions of adults), the term was included in a list of inclusive terminology by the University of Missouri. With…
