Younger, younger!
Western democracy grants citizens 18 years old (or thereabouts) the right to vote. Supposedly such citizens have acquired the life experience and knowledge to vote wisely.
Hmmmm.
I subscribe to the theory that our critical thinking skills do not mature well enough until we are 25. I would consider my youth as a good example of that theory.
How to Vote
Western democracy kind of asks its citizens to know the issues and then sort out the rhetoric of which politicians have better solutions.
The TDG, on the other hand, will have a direct request to the voters. They will be reminded to:
1. vote for someone of good character,
2. vote for someone of capacity for governance, and
3. not vote for someone who is or seems to be campaigning for the job.
Remember, that each voter is instructed to figure out these traits for themselves and cast a vote for the neighbor who best exemplifies their criteria.
With the TDG criteria, we can reduce the voting age to 14!
Dave at 14
Going back to my days of adolescence, I could have done a reasonably good job with voting Criterion #1. If an adult did not seem to respect me, no vote going that way.
Imagine a 15-year-old woman who tolerates the oogling stares of an older man in her neighborhood. If she has the TDG vote, she can vote for someone else. Young women voting this way mean fewer misogynists in TDG governance. And fewer misogynists in governance mean better decisions in all sorts of matters to run society.
I may or may not have been able to discern Criterion #2 at 14 years old.
And I think Criterion #3 was out of reach at 14.
But I still could do a good job of #1. In other words, I would be casting a wise vote at 14 years old, by TDG standards. Probably wiser than my 65-year-old Canadian vote of today.
And by starting to vote at 14, I would likely be getting some experience to understand #2 and #3 better for when I become 16. The annual TDG elections mean my young vote will get wiser within a few years!
Age Eligibility to Serve
While 14-year-olds should be eligible to vote, I don’t think they should be cast as representatives or serve on executive committees.
As I have alluded earlier, maybe 25 years old is a good time to have these responsibilities.
Having said that, I will let each TDG decide on its own “age of service.” I suspect 18–21 will be the range.
Having said that, I will encourage any TDG-inspired adolescents to start their own local TDG. If the adults in the neighborhood are dragging their feet on building this new democracy, then let’s have the 14-to-18-year-olds build this new democracy.
We, the wise yet so dumb
Our youth must be confused as all hell.
We, the older and supposedly wiser, are leaving them climate change challenges, economic instability, a diminishing middle class, silly wars, and authoritarian or impotent statesmanship — and still insist that the youth must use the same system that got us into this mess. A big paradox here indeed.
If you belong to the older and supposedly wiser generation and have no interest in building a new democracy, then let the youth in your life know of this possible opportunity. If you can get a few youth involved in TDG, then you have contributed to building a better political system.
If you belong to the 25-and-under group and wondering what kind of world the adults left you with, the TDG is yours to build. The adults are dragging their feet.
And when you are 40 years old, that democracy just might be built for you.
Now that is long-term planning.
Published on Medium 2025
Options to the TDG Elections
A Social Media Co-operative
