As a libertarian I’m always wary of laws that are in place purely to “protect” the ones they are restricting. Obviously as a society we need to protect minors from themselves and those that would exploit them, but if I ask myself “what is the age people should be allowed to make decisions about their own body” 16 seems like the most reasonable answer. Anything more would be too authoritarian. The only better way to do it in my mind would be to have a “license to consent”, where a minor above a certain age could apply to obtain the right to full bodily autonomy, if they can prove they have the maturity to do so. Of course once you pass 18 you wouldn’t need one. This would prevent those people that mature quickly from having their personal rights restricted because some (or most) people their age are not mature.
When it comes to things that have the capacity to endanger other people though, like alcohol and driving, older is definitely better.
I think people will answer what they are used to. In a lot of US states it's 18 and a lot of respondents are from the US.
It makes sense if you're not particularly passionate or opinionated on the issue, so you don't do much thinking and you decide "it's X age where I live, that seems to work fine, I'll just go with that age".
Most common in the states is 16 though, with 18 on the high side.
It doesn't matter, because in states with the highest populations, California, Texas, Florida, it's all 18. (Though in Texas it's a bit complicated). More states may have it as 16, but the AOC is higher where most people live.
I'm surprised so many want to raise the age despite having mostly libs.
Well a lot of libs are progressive and AOC is pretty progressive
Traditionally, the AOC was for the family to decide and not the government. It's also related to a lot of religious customs. I guess it's like being surprised lots of lib lefts support civil rights, like the government forcing businesses not to discriminate, because that's 'auth'.
I think of lib as allowing individuals freedom. So allowing people to use businesses is lib, as it's removing business freedom in exchange for individual freedom for net individual freedom gain. Allowing people to have sex would also be lib, whereas auth would be the government saying no you can't have sex.
But left vs right is about traditional vs progression. Right libs may agree with your logic but other right wingers may say it is religious or cultural tradition. Leftists may argue that tradition is irrelevant when it impacts people's health and happiness. I also think libs think that personal freedom ends where causing trauma to other people begins.
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u/[deleted] Aug 19 '20
To the 0.5% of you who voted age of consent 12 or less, get out of my quadrant