Should kids be given the right to vote?

Michael Kinsley, writing for The Politico, says the idea might be worth considering if giving children the right to vote would act as an impetus toward limiting entitlement spending. Me? I think it would be the best way to guarantee an amendment guaranteeing unlimited candy, Legos, and horses to all children. But maybe I’m just being cynical.

But Kinsley adds a wrinkle to the thought that intrigued me:

Let children vote. Or rather, extend the franchise to children, but let parents vote on their underage children’s behalf. In effect, parents would get an extra vote for every child. How would this solve the entitlement problem? It wouldn’t, directly. But it would revise the allocation of political power to more closely reflect who has the most at stake. It would reward long-term thinking rather than short-term thinking. Right now seniors are all-powerful because they vote in such large numbers, while young people must rely on the good will of their parents and grandparents to protect their interests. Every politician invokes “our children” as the most important consideration on every issue, and then, having done so, is free to ignore them.

I don’t find myself agreeing with Michael Kinsley too often but there’s a first time for everything I guess.

As a parent of five kids I’m all for it. Climbing out of our minivan and into the election booth we’d be an awe inspiring political power- even if some of us were still in diapers. Politicians would quiver in fear at our approach. It wouldn’t just be Matt Archbold it would be Matt Archbold and his five votes. Danielle Bean and her brood would practically be their own congressional district. I’d have state representatives mowing my lawn. I’d have congressman picking up my mail when I’m away. It’d be awesome.

Pro-life Christians would immediately become the hottest political demographic.

The chances of this happening are pretty much non-existent. I know that. But I’m reaching across the aisle to Kinsley here in agreement. My only question is that if we did allow parents the right to vote for their children I wonder how long it would take for Democrats to make abortion illegal.