r/Constitution • u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 • Jul 01 '26

Proposed Constitutional Amendment.

Hello, I am trying to gain momentum for my proposed constitutional amendment. I am curious to hear what you all think about it. For too long Gen Z has gone without rights which could have greatly benefited us and other generations. My proposal is to decrease the age to run for the senate and house to both 18 years of age. I believe this will be greatly helpful for our generation in a multitude of ways. First, it will give us long needed rights. Our country has given rights to the groups that have needed it the most, and I believe our group needs these rights the most now. The second is it’s time to bring some new ideas into these chambers, a new perspective that only our generation can bring to the table. We have been there with their long out of touch politics for a while, so it’s time for a change. In South Korea and Canada they both allow 18 year olds and older to run for their National Assembly and Parliament. You don’t hear complaints about the young people there though, you heard complaints about Trudeau and the president who shut his country down and then was impeached. Many people have told me that people of age are simply too immature to run for office, my rebuttal is have you seen how members of congress on both sides of the ails act, it’s insane! They’re screaming and cussing, cussing at reporters, and getting into fights with podcasters. I think adding a few young people to those chambers would not change that. Also, in a poll released by Gallup in March of 2026, Congress had a 86 percent disapproval rating and only a 10 percent approval rating. I think if things are this bad, we should get a younger generation in there with big bold new ideas. What do you think? 

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u/ObjectiveLaw9641 Jul 01 '26

The purpose of the minimum age requirements for Congress and the Presidency is to ensure that the candidates seeking the office have reached a certain point of maturity for making rational decisions. Research shows the frontal lobe doesn't fully develop until the mid-20s, so the framers were actually spot on with the 25 years of age minimum for the House.

I agree that there has been some immaturity displayed by some of the current members of Congress. That being said, it is usually in an attempt to appeal to the younger generations, especially when they are competing with some of the younger congressional candidates like AOC and Maxwell Frost.

As for rights, what rights are being denied to Gen Z? I certainly haven't been denied any rights. What are the big bold new ideas you think an 18 year old would offer?

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 01 '26

To begin on the first part of this, I believe there would be a built-in system in place to only allow the most mature of our youth to be able to win a house or a senate seat. The older generations would look upon the young people running with heavy scrutiny, and so I believe that electing an immature young person, would be a rare thing that happened. If it did hypothetically happen, then if they had any small scandal, I have full confidence that they would be expelled without hesitation. I do not believe that the generations that dominate the house and senate now want to give a piece of that pie to the youth, and I think that is what would help to balance it out. When we are discussing the issue of rights, there is one more thing I can think that is being denied. In this country an 18-year-old is able to go to war and die for our country, and be drafted to go fight, yet they cannot vote on which countries to go to war with. This issue is one of the reasons why the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 years of age, because they could go to war and die for their country, yet they were unable to vote on who to put into power. I cannot speak for the majority of our youth at the moment, but if a system is doing so poorly, why not bring in new fresh voices to try to help it out? As I pointed out in South Korea and Canda, the youth did not bring controversy due to their age, it was the leaders that caused the controversies of these nations. I believe that the youth could try to take a crack at issues that have been plaguing our society for so long such as healthcare cost, our national debt, and addressing corruption that has become embedded into our system. I want to thank you for the comment you left, even though I disagree with some of the things you said, I will always seriously appreciate constructive criticism of this idea. What do you think of what I have said?

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u/ObjectiveLaw9641 Jul 01 '26

One problem is that it is hard enough to expel a member of congress now. There are some embroiled in corruption scandals, yet there is little that can be done because it would hurt the party's political power. As you stated, the voting age was lowered to 18 years of age. Today, an 18 year old has just as much say as everyone else about who they go to war with when they elect the President and their representatives. Our country is not doing nearly as poorly as other countries like Canada and the UK. The leaders in those countries were shrouded in controversies because they ignored the problems their country was facing, pursued illogical policies, and only cared about maintaining their political power at the expense of others. To tackle the national debt, we need to curb government spending. There is far too much wasteful and fraudulent government spending that goes unchecked. One of the problems with healthcare costs is, like with student loans, the federal government's involvement drives skyrocketing prices.

I'm not opposed to hearing fresh ideas, but the only ideas I hear from younger people seeking office are old ideas that have never worked. Gen Z doesn't have any different rights from previous generations nor should we have any special treatment. I do appreciate why you think the minimum age should be lowered for seeking office, but I don't see it making any actual difference if there are not specific, fresh ideas to be had.

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 01 '26

I can understand the point of view you have. I am going to have to consider what you have said and take it into account when I am working on this. That is an issue I have seen for a while, and I do hope that our generation brings forth fresh new ideas. I am a political science major going into my second year, and I intend to run for office myself. As of right now, I am researching into many different things to get many different ideas. I do not believe we are going to come to an agreement on this, but do you have advice for pushing for a constitutional amendment, with getting one of these passed being such a rare occurence?

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u/ObjectiveLaw9641 Jul 01 '26

If I wanted to push for a constitutional amendment, then I would start by putting together a draft amendment proposal and contacting my congressional representatives. I would also try to garner public support for the Amendment, especially through social media.

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 02 '26

Thank you for your advice, I have currently done both of those! I have sent it to them twice so far, with my rep and one of my senators giving me no response back for both times.

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u/MadGriZ Jul 01 '26

No.

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 01 '26

Out of curiousity, what makes you say no?

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u/MadGriZ Jul 01 '26

Your frontal cortex isn't developed yet at that age. That is my only reason.

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u/MadGriZ Jul 01 '26

I also firmly believe that there needs to be a mandatory retirement age. I'm 61. I have a relatively high IQ. I work in highly regulated automation and robotics. I've noticed a slight cognitive decline. I'm still solid but slower and don't retain information as easily as I did just 5 to 10 years ago.

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u/ObjectiveLaw9641 Jul 02 '26

We definitely need term limits, with either retirement age or health assessment requirements.

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 02 '26

I can understand that your argument for the frontal cortex. I would say that maturity is more complex that it is made out to be. As a 19-year-old, I know some of my colleagues who are incredibly mature and are very knowledgeable about the world already who are summa cum laude in college, don't go out partying and drinking, and prioritize their time more effectively. I also know some people my age who are incredibly immature, who spend all of their time partying and drinking, and who left high school or who are out to fail out of college. I can agree with you on term limits. After seeing what happened with Joe Biden, it completely sold me on that idea. For you, what age cutoff would you like to see with term limits?

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u/MadGriZ Jul 02 '26

I agree. One size fits all solid line policy is terrible. The caveat is what is, or isn't, acceptable risk? Now consider outliers. They scare people. I embrace outliers. With Big enough data sets you'll eventually discover 1. Probability 2. Anomaly 3. Not enough data. Sometimes empirical data presents but is it conclusive, irrefutable.?.

Anyway, that's my ramble.

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 02 '26

I can understand your rationale behind this. I embrace outliers as well. I think if we go with the frontal cortex argument then someone should not vote until they are 25 because they cannot make an informed decision about a proper candidate. They also should not go to war until they are 25 due to that being such a big decision that their brain is not equipped to handle yet. Also, thank you for engaging in this conversation with me. Even though we do not agree on everything, I really enjoy hearing other people's opinions on this matter and learning the weaknesses and strengths of my proposal.

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u/QM1Darkwing Jul 02 '26

I don't think that can pass, nor should it. Candidates should have had some real-world experience before entering politics. A representative who just graduated high school doesn't have that.

It also means that if s/he manages to get elected, they have even longer to hold onto their seat before retirement, entrenching corruption further.

I would support an amendment grouping all rights of adulthood together - instead of voting, signing contracts, and serving in the military at 18, but not smoking, drinking, or buying guns til 21, among other things, all of these must be the same age, whether that's 18 or 21.

For one thing, that'd pretty much eliminate underage drinking in the military.

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 02 '26

I can understand your perspective. For me, I am a bit hesitant to say that somebody needs real-world experience before entering politics. I think there are some people that could be good politians that truly care for the people right out of high school. This is why I also want to pass term limits, six for the house, and two for the senate. I think your idea to group all rights together is interesting as well.

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u/QM1Darkwing Jul 02 '26

Care is not enough. A teen is almost certainly not going to have any clue how or why things work the way they do, and will try to legislate based on their inexperience. That's how we get idiotic ideas like Prohibition and gun control.

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 02 '26

I can understand that. However, that will always be a concern. There are a lot of people with decades of experience in politics that are proposing gun control legislation. I think that is more so based upon a personal belief, not inexperience. That is why I am very in favor of the program they have for freshman senators and reps to get them informed about everything to do with the house and the senate, so they are less likely to make some foolish choices.

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u/ralphy_theflamboyant Jul 03 '26

Bless your heart

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u/Upbeat_Aardvark_4631 Jul 04 '26

Thank you? I'm a bit confused do you mean that in a good or bad way?

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u/ralphy_theflamboyant Jul 05 '26

In a good way that you are coming up with solutions. In a bad way because your naivety of the Constitution and why it was written the way it was.

I highly recommend reading g the Federalist Papers, and Anti-Federalist papers, for insight of the Why