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>> you can start calling in now. entrepreneur and republican who made raising the voting age the key campaign issue last month and released the proposal to call on congress to the constitutional amendment to raise the voting age to 25% results in completed service requirements for past test. since the campaign travel talking about that proposal. we are representative constitutional republic. it comes with civic duties. let me tell you, in 1971 when we lowered the voting age to 18, we did it in the context of a draft, military contract that said if you were 18 years old old enough to serve the country that should be old enough to vote and i stand by that, it was

the right thing to do. i do not stand by our draft today, we have no reason for one but we have civic duty and tied. the ultimate privilege the right to vote if you want to plan the game, you have to have skin in the game. i think about young americans today i see a deficit of national pride because i see a deficit of duty, you don't value that country who inherit, you only value mistake in building and knowing something so that is why today i am announcing my support for a new amendment to the u.s. constitution. the amendments would raise the voting age in this country from 18 to 25 but still tell you you can vote at 18 if you either do service to this country six months in the military or six

months as a first responder or else at least past the same civics test we make an immigrant path to actually become a voting citizen in this country. >> the campaign stop since we are asking you, should the voting age changed? because it is a great the opinion donovan bernstein on bloomberg opinion and the washington post in the wake of the call to raise the voting age to 25. here's what jonathan had to say about the proposal and asks about specifics of the proposal and says is not just plan to franchise dts, it's rude in at least two false promises, the way to get democracy is

restrict participati the best of us leaving aside who gets to choose the best, is logically flawed so t hierarchy among thoseked as the best, thehe best of the best so the incentive will beo improve work restrictions and furtr improve he writes only a handful more, this is aristocratic or authoritarian principal being proposed. asking you your thoughts on changing the voting age. (202)748-8000. eighteen to 25, (202)748-8001. if you're 26 through 55 or over 552027488002. ocean city, new jersey. >> the voting age should be

changed to 15. my middle niece when she was about eight years old was qualified to be president. if they changed it 15, they vote against all guns and war and for a place to live for every homeless person and a guaranteed job so it should be changed. >> you trust your knees, do you trust all 15-year-old? >> well know. i don't believe in perfectibility of human nature but the majority of them would vote for more loving humane progressive policies. >> thank you for the call. this is branding, illinois. good morning. >> i certainly think we should lower the voting age. these older people are getting old but if you can't grow when you get old it won't do you any good. it's based in the facts, i think

you need nato and you don't really need nato. we are young, we will have to live with it. you don't get to undo what they did for a very long time. we need to understand to lower the voting age, young people have to live in this country and people will be on their way out soon and we need to respect that because they are going to be in an old folks home sooner or later and what are they going to do? here in washington d.c.

and they would go to college. calling for lowering the voting age was a topic that was part of the discussion in southwest festival in texas that included the possibility of lowering the voting ageng to 16, this is what she had to[v say. >> we have automatic voter get yoution to registered to vote and a lot of people get their drivers license so things like that will help us address and able to vote right away.

and a state or local election and elections need to mention where they are and if they want to be able to vote younger ages, we will certainly see that emerge from citizens and filled out in our work is focused on making sure we are introducing young people for the new generation inheriting our democracyn . >> recently sxsw festival, lowering the voting age federal voting age in the country is 18 a primary if they will be 18

with the general election coming around, the national conference hestate legislature 18 states in washington d.c. to vote in primary so you may see 17-year-old of the primary polls at the 2024 election. this is bruce in arlington, ohio over 55. should the voting age be changed? for you with us? >> i don't believeot so. >> why not? >> i don't think we get enough people to vote now. twenty to 25% of the people to vote.

>> of lowering the voting age could bring more people into vote, that address your concern, just allowing people the opportunity to vote? >> it's a possibility but i don't understand or think young people like that wouldte even be interested. >> but they say they are. groups of young americans who advocate for exactly this, lowering the voting age, he one of those o groups. >> i don't believe in that, they put out so much crap that you can't hardly trust anybody. that is the trouble nowadays, you can't trust anybody. the news, the politicians, everything.

how can you trust them? all they do is lie. >> that's bruce in arlington, ohio. the national youth rights association on the website, ten reasons why the voting age should be lowered. one, people have adult responsibly but denied the right to vote. people are consuming actively in society, volunteering in communities and many people have adult responsibly is like being the primary caretaker for a family member are running a business for making financial contributions in the household yet you cannot vote. young people are expected to follow the law but they don't have to state making. they experience adult sequences if weer don't do so in every ste it's possible to be transferred out of juvenile court into adult criminal court and certain states crimes committed by 16th and 17 years old are automatically transferred get

people under the age of 18 don't have the right to vote. top ten reasons for lowering the voting age, that's the national association asking if off this morning if you are 18 to 25, (202)748-8000. if you're 26 to 552027488001 and if you are over 55, (202)748-8002. if you think we should change the voting age in the country requiring constitutional amendment to do so, let us know if you do in which direction you think you should go if it should stay the same. richard across the river. good morning. >> thank you for taking my call. i think as far as the law to change, should go up. we got lost in oregon and washington were a 12-year-old can walk away from parents and

change the sex. i think the people want to allow for kids who have not properly people in our country and i like having the stake, i come from military background and the guidelines, a book called a perfect union and how we revise our constitution, we teach this information to our kids and t teach them where this country is inherently, the founding fathers have a great vision, the problem is we don't enforce the laws as they are yet you have kids raising kids, they never really ysgrow up. >> are you okay with 25 all the way up?

>> i'm not sure 25 is the number but having a person be first responder or serve in the military cannot, i think two years to let them pass through the litmus test, let's teach history as it was supposed to revising the books teaching this garbage we teach our kids nowadays. >> this is kelly north carolina on the line for those over the age of 55, good morning. >> the age thing is so hard. i say they should do it, it is a problem now with our kids, they are not being taught about civics, they are not being taught what they should be taught in schools and if you've ever seen any of the interviews

the man on the street and goes around talks to children, i say children, they are in college and they don't even know who their vice presidentnt is in soe don't even know who the p president is. it is sad how they need to grow up not to mention the fact that people don't develop their brain all the way until they are 25. i agree completely because we have got to have smart people voting. i don't mean smart smart, people who know.

>> they are allowed to vote. >> i say should all have to take the test every so often and make sure we do know those things. it would be great for every voter for their registration. >> how often do you think would have to be taken? >> every four years. >> it's gotten to where all we do is watch regular stupid game shows and that's all they put out, it is a plan to keep us and it is important we know our government and what's going on.

>> good morning, gon ahead. >> it's ridiculous, of course we should let young people felt. all of these older adults, they haven't grown up. what you do, we know decline began to occur people say they can't vote. people who break a leg, are you going to say they can't vote? get a young person involved, it's like getting them to vote. this whole thing, you have to be 27 too vote it's the first step

toward something more devious today not being taught civics, come on. the civics class, it is a problem with everybody what better way to teach people civics them by getting them involved with the voting process. all about expanding democratic rights. >> what did you think about the caller who proposed every american take the civics test every four years to be allowed to vote? >> what is this? are we turning into like world war ii? on this beautiful day june the sixth, we fought against that attitude taking a civics test? come on. all of us have to work together

to make our country better. we are all in this together. that is another ridiculous idea, i'm sorry. each and every one of us in our church in mosques and synagogues and temples and secular institutions we have to work to educate everybody and work on promoting civics. it's not just something the school, it is a regressive statement in my opinion. >> june the sixth 79th anniversary date of remember emmayor and normandy and the remembrance ceremonies happening

today over there. carter in louisiana, good morning. what a six and 55 years old, go ahead. >> good morning. can you hear me? >> yesr. or. >> i would say absolutely, let's drop the voting age to 16 if you want to trust somebody to drive the car, it's a reasonable response ability and we can trust that person to operate a voting booth as well. while we are at it, let's implement the voting age and i'm sick of living in this chair talker see where in. how about we intimate maximum voting age to 80 and carried over to politicians as well.

anyway. >> what would you say to the first caller who says 15-year-old niece knows more about civics than most people he knows? he would be happy to have her vote at 15? >> i think the kids are all rightig. >> think about the future? >> when it comes to using concerns of young people, yes but on that note, people say you can be sent off to war when you're 18, we are literally sending our children a into schools where there lives are eminently at risk of being taken by somebody with an assault rifle so i think the time has changed and i should even say kids, these young people should

be allowed a stake in our democracy. >> democrat republican, independent, do you mind sharing? >> a little less of the dems. >> folks who say lowering the voting age is a plan democrat to get more votes saying they lean more democratic and portable plan by democrats and they will show statistics like this, this is the share of democrat in the 2022 midterm in the new york times, 64% of those between his of 18 to 29 voted democratic in the midterm compared to 55 and older, 44% of those 65 and older in the midterms. >> before i go, i will say when

you have friends over, you don't let someone pick a movie five minutes before they leave so i't sorry to go there but i think the kids have a stake in the country and they should be allowed to vote. >> call from louisiana, chicago, good morning on the age of 55, go ahead. >> the voting age should be put back to at least 21. preferably 25 but at least 21 to experience responsibility before youif vote. a 7-year-old to pick up a gun and somebody says not a test to say they can go to the service, anybody can do that. a 10-year-old someplace can drive. that's not a test. getting out of high school out of the classroom with the

teachers telling you what to do, thete classmates somebody prepas you and buys you close need to experience getting up and going to a job every day instead of going to school knowing paycheck after the government takes taxes to pay the bills. ... >> host: the argument that group that is advocated for lowering the voting age over to say to those folks who say there are those under 18 who take on

the paycheck and contribute to the family finances and that there are those over 18 who can't hold down a job or can't figure out how to keep the lights on and they vote? >> guest: there are anomalies for everything, anything. look at the norm. the a norm is your parents take care of you at least until you're out of high school, and you are forced to go to school to make sure you get a good meal. meal. but when you're out of high school it's more responsibilities. you see things differently. you can't say well, i had a part-time -- i had a part-time job in school. i gave my mom some money out of, i got out my part-time but that's different. that's the exception, that's not the norm. it's like if you're going to drive a car, i learned driving

lessons in school but you got to get out and drive. you get out of high school before you can, and preferably get a a couple of years of lie experience and vote at 21. >> host: plenty of comments via social media and her text messages as well. highlight a few of those. chris in illinois say i have much less concern for 18 year olds voting that i do for the millions of voters who vote straight party ticket in every election which happens at every age. i do agree every single u.s. citizen should have to pass the same test given to immigrants to seek citizenship in this country. this is paul kansas city, missouri, saint him as her children those under 18 are permitted to openly carryry semiautomatic rifles. so why not give kindergartners the right to vote? those who survived childhood will probably thenho change government to protect and serve

the citizens. vicki mayfield writing on facebook that should be raised. young americans today are the most mentally immature in our history. this is bill, independent from michigan. no, the ages find where it's at. i would like to change a few other things in our voting system such as when and where we vote. those are the real issues. a few comments from social media and text message. mark, maryland, life is between 26-55. what do you think? >> guest: good morning. i snuck in by one year. >> host: are you 55 ru 26? >> guest: 54. [laughing] so, i actually wouldn't be opposed raising the voting age to 21 or i think 25 is reasonable also. itso seems like we took civics t of our p public schools back n the 1960s, and in every

generation there after has been more on more oblivious to the founding of our country and the constitution and i think it's pretty evident from the callers of this money. i listed the c-span every morning, and every of the collect the calls in, you had a few callers a few calls back and kept talking about democracy and just saying that didn't vote. that's our democracy. i think he made his own argument as to what everybody should have to take a civics test. i think it might interest the listeners out there to know that the word democracy is nowhere to be found in the constitution or the declaration of independence. and yet we've got generations of people who actually think this country is a democracy. we are a constitutional republic. we do have a representative democracy but we are not a democracy. that's the message you drivm into theses kids, and to the previous caller who mentioned

that the immaturity is staying with young people later into the years, if you go back 100 years, people in their early 20s were going out in the world and starting businesses, starting families, raisingst children. and today's young people are staying home later and later. it's like we have this fixation with keeping them in a state of permanent adolescence. i wouldn't be opposed to 21 or 25. >> host:t: that smart in milton. coming up on 7:30 on the east coast this morning.on the "washington journal" asking do you think the voting age should be changed in this country works having this conversation in large part because republican presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy has made this part ofte his pitch on the campaign trail announcing his support for constitution amendment to change the voting

age to raise it. last month he's been talking about on the campaign trail sense. here's a recentmp appearance wih vivek ramaswamy on fox news talking about it. >> voting is not guaranteed in the constitution. read the constitution front to back. our founding fathers knew what they were doing. they said you can't restrict the vote based on certain criteria but there is no express a constitutionally guaranteed right to vote because we don't live in a direct democracy. we live in a constitutional republic. that means. comes with civic duties. so against that drop back time the privileges of citizenship to duties i think that's closer to the flame of the american way. that way, i think is what i took the first step towards last week when i said if you want to vote in this country before the age of 25 come let's start with that. before the age of 25 then you at least have toat be that serve te country or at minimum served the country promoting something about it and pass missing civics

test that is required of natural itsui citizens. we are on the same wavelength. >> host: vivek ramaswamy on fox news last month. phone lines split a bit different this morning, 202-748-8000 if you're 18-25. 202-748-8001 if you're6 26-55 d if you're over 55, 202-748-8002. we will head went out to hawaii, john is up this morning over 55. good morning, john. what theis gentleman's time has expired. is it in hawaii? >> guest: let me look real fast. it's 1:34 around their. >> host: thanks for being up late at night. what do you think about this age changed to vote? >> guest: well, i mean, i that this is just another way that the republicans are trying to suppress the vote. you know? to me if they want to raise the

age, then when you get to old, then let's hit it that way, you know what it means? sorry bout that, i'm kind of nervous here. but anyways, if you are too old, you start to lose a certain cognitive faculties and stuff like that. then maybe you shouldn't be able to vote if you are around 75. i think it should be lowered, and if it's not lowered, then leave it the way it is. thank you for taking my call. >> host: what would you say to republicans is a lowering the voting age is a plot by democrats to try do rig the vote? because young people to devote more democratic.

>> caller: well, i mean it is what it is. you have to let people vote to get the kids think that their representation is on the side, then let them vote. the only reason why the republicans want to do that is because they are scared. they are scared to lose and the want to win. that's it. they are chicken andt. they are scared. thank you for taking myhe call. >> host: thank you for calling late at nightu in hawaii. again those who voted in the 2022er midterms ages 18-2964% of those -- 18-29, 64% of those voting that election. today's "new york times," older americans still vote at higher rates than younger americans at the gap has narrowed substantially over the past two decades. why because many younger voters have become more politically active because they fear about the country's future. those on the left who are majority of younger voters worry

about climate change, abortion access, the extreme of the republican party, and more. corl immigration, and more. what seems to be driving unger voters to the polls is not love but anger. he quotes amy walter as saying, younger voters have not automatically been liberal. in 1984, those under 30 strongly backed ronald reagan's reelection. in 2000, they split almost evenly. but for four straight national elections democrats have won 60% of the vote among 18 to 29-year-olds and that is the longest run of success for a party since the 1970's. that was today's new york times. this is clayton in indiana. go ahead. caller: first off, the guy that

says kids who are going to school and afraid of school shootings that they should vote? what about all of those getting shot by the gang bangers? the age should not be changed. i was forced to sign up to the draft when i was 18, it should not be lowered because a 16 or 17-year-old should not be drafted into the military. the draft may be active but it is not being called upon. no, the voting age should not be changed. thank you and have a good day. host: ken in michigan those 18 to 25. caller: i'm 25. thank you for having me on. people around me -- we are mad. we are mad at what we are being handed. but i do not think it should be lowered. most people -- my friends are

kind of gullible. every time the government offers a freebie, they do not understand how that works. our votes are being purchased. from the history lessons i learned that is how societies were destroyed. rome was destroyed as soon as the government becomes a treasury for the people. you are trading vote for dollars and things collapse. i think 18 is fine. i know i am a little older heading into the category, but i think my friends are with me on it. host: you say younger people are more gullible. what would you say to the callers that say there are older people who are gullible or could be taken advantage of in the same way as they get to advanced years? caller: i think the older people have seen what they have done and experienced their life during multiple governments. they at least have the background and the knowledge

that they are going to consciously make these decisions. i cannot tell you when someone's mental decline takes away their decision-making process, but i think a lot of the older generation were a lot more frugal. they were a little more value driven. today, it is not quite like that in the 20 somethings. they are a little different. there is more emotion on things. there are just different principles. i would rather give the older and the wiser and not drive the voting age down. 18 his fine. that is when we all -- the gears in our mind are working enough we can do something. lower than that i think the hormones and other things are settling down and people make emotional decisions instead of logical decisions. host: that is ken in michigan.

less than 50% of 18 to 24-year-olds are even registered to vote, let alone those who participate by voting. the numbers go up significantly as americans get older. those 65 to 74-years-old, almost 78%, are registered to vote. this is george in pennsylvania, over the age of 55. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: thank you for having me. i think we should raise the voting age to at least 21. over the years our students' comprehension and maturity has been increasing. we used to have the drinking age at least of 18. we decided they are not responsible enough to drink.

if you cannot drink at 18, you are not responsible enough. you should not be able to vote at 21. you do not have that life experience yet. host: what about those who argue we trust what about those who argue we trust people to drive a car at 16? >> caller: we also allow them to drive the vehicles on farms at 12, 13 years old. is that oldgh enough to vote? i don't think so. our level of maturity has definitely gone longer on in age for people. we are living longer with our parents. we are not getting jobs. weg are marrying later sort life experiences are starting later. the voting age shouldng move appropriately with it. >> host: that's george in pennsylvania. to change thenn voting age as vivek ramaswamy wants to do,

wants to propose it would require a constitutional amendment. that's because of another constitutional amendment, the 26th amendment. this i what it has to say. the right of citizens of the united states who are 18 years of age or older toot shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of age. 26 amendment. this is j. d. in columbia, maryland, age 26-55. go ahead. >> caller: yes. thanks for h having me. normally i call in or i listen, i learn a ton from all your callers. today i feel like for the first time i i may have something td to the conversation. when i do these things about raising the voting age or restricting voting it really harkens back to me about what happened under reconstruction. have a restricted black votes,

what they did to the black voters. wilmington, north carolina, the same type of mentality where the thought that black voters didn't help her understand didn't have enough knowledge, and they basically had a successful insurrection in wilmington. it really bothers me and concerns me in terms of how what people are thinking and how they're thinking about this issue. i relate it back to sort of crt. if we can't learn from our mistakes, if we can't learn from the errors and brutality from our past, , then we are doomed o repeat it. it certainly seems right now we are in the process of repeating those errors. >> host: i don't know if you were listening about half an hour ago. we talked about jonathan bernstein is response to vivek

ramaswamy proposal in which he talks about his concerns about restricting participation to quote the best of us and figure out who gets to choose who the best are saying it's a path towards aristocracy or even authoritarianism in this country. would you agree with that? >> caller: i didn't hear that, and yes, i do agree it. i feel that we are increasingly on that path in our country. it disturbs me. the thing that i value most about oure country is really or democracy. i think there's an interesting parsing of that term from some of your previous callers, but i feel like the spirit of this country is one of democracy, it's one of, if you have skin in the game, in my view, that skin

is if you're subject to the laws of this country, you have skin in the game. you should have the right to vote inth terms of how you are subject to those laws. >> host: what about the callers who called in and said they are concerned about civics education in this country, , tht we are losing that and this could be a way to help get civics education back into more mainstream, to get more people to care about this country by learning more about it. this is a w vehicle we can use o do that. that that is their genuine concern. >> caller: i hear that. i think that civics education could be addressed in different ways than restricting the vote. to me the greater fear here is literacy tests, civics tests, tests that are designed that

eventually enhance the future to limit the boat. we've seen that in the past. fortunately we are now in a state in a country where we want to restrict -- [inaudible] and that restriction really enables us to repeat those errors, repeat that history, and that really concerns me. i can see if we open up this pandora's box i can see us literally the next ten years debating the merits of the civics test, how strange as it should be, should we increased the difficulty of the test? it's going to get really bad. it's all about the votes and i don't think we should be talking about restricting the votes. i think the party should be looking to win voters over as opposed to restricting the vote. >> host: thanks for the call from columbia. ali is in bristol, virginia. over the age of 55.

go ahead. >> caller: yes, good morning. to me age is okay but with eight i believe would make a lot of generalizations because we are not all the same. some people are smarter than others. i think knowledge is all that matters. i think wha the problem in the united states is a lot of people do not travel. they do not go to other countries. i would like too take somebody here and take taken to my n -- [inaudible] politicians beat the crap out of us because we don't support their politics. no freedom. i swear if they come back to america they would like. personality the most knowledgeable people that i've met here -- our diplomats are people that a been overseas. just that is enough. regardless of age. thank you. >> host: robin, columbus,

ohio, age 26-55. go ahead. >> caller: i just want to echo the points made by the colleges before the last about how restricting the voting age is just a ploy that was used during reconstruction to restrict voting rights. we need to ask ourselves why are we willing to o give guns and automatic weapons with no permits or tests to anyone, but we're not willing to allow the vote to stay where it's at at 18? at 18 were still being educated, being knowledgeable. today, more and more students are taking college courses. they are learning more about the world at a younger age. we have high school students are takingts college classes, gainig college credit. obviously they're prepared or able to understand what's going on. if we can incarcerate someone at

18, they should be allowed to vote at age 18. thank you. >> host: before you go, are you still with us? >> guest: the sim. >> host: on this issue of changing the voting age of would require a constitutional amendment. it would change one of the amendments in this country, the 26th amendment, and were having an open debate about changing a constitutional amendment. i wonder what your thoughts are unhelpful open people in this country are to debates about changing other amendments to the constitution, say for example, the second amendment? >> caller: exactly. they are not open to changing the second amendment. so we're picking and choosing what people want to change about people's rights in this country. we need to ask ourselves why. why now? >> host: that's robin in columbus, ohio. a few more of you, some social media.al on twitter i do believe the age of 16, young person should be

able to vote. many are driving cars, holding down jobs and hunting with guns. if they're able to do those things they should be able to vote. this from copperhead saying absolutely. iea thoroughly endorse the proposal. additionally repeal the 17th amendment and return the selection senators to state legislatures. we can do this. mlb sainted h2 20 military and age to votehe must be the same. you cannot ask an all volunteer military to defend a nation that they don't have a voice in the government. and this from joseph say let me get that 2 right, 25 to vote but you can buy a gun at 18. priorities people priorities. suzanne, cincinnati, ohio, over 55 good morning. >> caller: good morning. i got a couple of comments. first of all i don't think we should change the voting age. the cousin are many people aged 18 and over who do volunteer work, , including volunteer work in senior centers and volunteer

work in schools, and they are very responsible people. i wanted also to comment on something that a previous caller said. she felt like we should change the voting age for older people and we should at a maximum age of 80. once you are 80 over you can't vote. i disagree with that. yes, there may be some 80 year old to have dementia, just like there are some people that think president biden has dementia. i think we oughtrent to be carel about making broad generalizations like that, you know? i disagree with that strongly and i think some people, regardless of age, be they 26 or 85, did not, know a whole lot about civics either. yet, we doe away their right to vote.

i read a column not long ago and the columnist advocated that what we ought to do is open up primaries, like they have done in some states. he said there are some states where the political parties accept all comers, so you do not just have to be a registered republican to vote in the republican primary or registered democrat to vote in the democratic primary. you can be any to vote in the primaries. i think it is a valid argument that that would dilute the extremist voices in both parties and opened the primaries up to all voices, moderate and otherwise. it might increase our possible selections of candidates in the general elections. that would increase voter

participation, because i think some people regardless of age are turned off about voting in the presidential election because they do not like the choices. may if we expanded and every state -- and it would be a state decision -- maybe if we expanded the primary opportunities so that regardless of your party affiliation you can vote in the primaries, that would increase voter participation in the primaries and the general election, regardless of age. host: 15 states in this country have open primaries where a voter can choose which primary they want to participate in, regardless of party. those states that have open primary systems montana, texas, vermont, virginia, wisconsin.

philip in virginia, you are next. caller: hello. this is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. changing the voting age? this is because the republicans keep losing. this is why they keep losing. they spend more time complaining about rainbows at target or bud light and demolishing somebody they don't like that they don't know what is going on in the world today. they are losing because they do not have any idea what to do. they cannot even get anything done because they do not know how to reach across the aisle and get bills passed the senate. host: what did you think about the negotiations that brought about this debt limit deal that

was signed into law by the president on saturday? in negotiation between house republicans of the white house. caller: that is the most work both sides have done since mccarthy came in. but you know what? it is just this fabricated thing. do away with it. it does not matter. in 2020 republicans got so scared because the democrats were going to show up and vote by mail. they wanted to restrict that. and then they complained about women voting. it is endless. you just keep changing the rules because they keep losing. host: this is melissa in maryland. good morning. the line for those between 26 and 55. caller: good morning.

i find this conversation very interesting because the same people who want to raise the age of voting also seemed to be dismantling child labor laws and violating those. i mean, if someone were to ask me what was really going on, it seems there is a desire to have another disempowered class. like a way to reinstitute forms of servitude. it has been minority groups and now we are looking at kids. we do not want them in schools, we want them working. but we do not want them voting. that is very problematic to me and i think that is a recipe for disaster. that is all i have to say. host: maureen in pennsylvania for the line for those over 55. good morning. caller: good morning, john.

host: go ahead. caller: i'm calling in defense of our veterans. i am a mother of a son that had joined the military voluntarily into the army. when the orders came down he was ordered to go to the iraq war. he served and came home as a disabled veteran and suffered severely. i feel that in serving his country we send our boys to war, and i do not believe, at a young age, we should change the voting age. if they can go to war at a young age, why can they not vote? also, i had a brother. i was in my teens when the

vietnam war was going on. i-70 years old. he was drafted. i believe it was called the draft if i'm not mistaken. and at a very young age and you are entitled to register, in the draft, and, of course, he was sent to vietnam. i believe he had to register and 18. 18. i think i'm right about that. of course he had to go to vietnam. all those young boys who served in vietnam. how can you say, i've heard people say let's change it to 21, 25. that's ridiculous. if they can serve in our wars and defend the country, why would they not be able to vote? i always thought itt was rather ridiculous that the drinking age is 21, but they can't, they went to war at 18 years old to defend

our country but they were not allowedwe to drink? >> host: thanks for the culprit running out of time.e. a couple more calls waiting. this is will in sturgeon bay wisconsin. good morning. >> caller: goodin morning. a couple of quick thoughts that of an echoed already. this clearly is a targeted effort by the republicans to silence an area of voters who they are losing.ha another is people have been saying old enough to stick a gun in her hand, they are old enough to walk into a voting booth. my father was in vietnam when he was 18. i don't think he was able to yet when he came home, but he votes every time now. if they could carry a gun, they can walk into the voting booth.

have good morning, everybody. >> host: last call industry segment this is john new jersey over 55. go ahead. >> caller: i would like to turn the answer upside down. if our public education system doesn't prepare students to vote by age 18, there is something wrong with that. so, yes, i believe the voting age should be 18. >> host: do you think our public education system is doing well in this country? >> caller: not so great. i think it, i have to admit that it don't think it's configured now to prepare students to be good voters when they come out. on the other hand, they may have an advantage because their internet experience might prepare them to distinguish baloney from reality better than us pollsters