Conservatives are a handbrake on progress

I support introducing people at an earlier age to politics, our system of government and democracy. As I see it, it is a step in the right direction if we want more people to engage with the society in which they live.

The conservative view, expressed in the article, is - National's Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith said the party as a whole did not support any lowering of the age, and would keep the voting age at 18.

The stupidly conservative view is - ACT leader David Seymour also vowed to fight any attempts to lower the voting age. "We don't want 120,000 more voters who pay no tax voting for lots more spending. The Supreme Court needs to stick to its knitting and quit the judicial activism."

The real reason the conservatives are against this progressive move can be summed up by the experience in the recent US mid-term elections. The younger the voter, the less inclined they are to support conservative ideas.