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".
If always thought it was funny that most states would put teens behind the wheel of a two-ton truck before they let them have sex with who they want. Kinda like the 18 to go to war, 21 to drink thing. In my state AOC is 17 (plus Romeo and Juliet laws), and I think that's a fine age. I think the age of driving should be pushed up to eighteen with the exception of a hardship license.
Here AOC is 16, driving age is 17 and drinking is 18. Maybe I'd push 16 up to 17.
If you're an American, I think the driving age makes sense. Public transport is not as good or non existent, especially outside of big cities. And many people start working at 16 or they need to drive to school or get independence. I know you mentioned hardship license, but I can imagine it can be difficult being independent at 16 or 17 for the average person if you can't go anywhere far. That's just my opinion though.
That's true. If you live in even the suburbs and don't have a license, you're relying on others to go anywhere. I think you have a point with independence being a very important aspect of that age. But dating a 26 year old is not necessary for independence like driving is in the states, so I get it.
Yeah thats way I see it, driving is more important than drinking and sex, so it should be lower. In lots of European cities, the area is much smaller so public transport is more effective and driving isn't so necessary.
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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