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We spoke with our adult children a few years ago why young people do not come to vote: their friends, colleagues, as well as those who left and those who cannot find even ten minutes to vote for their future on election Sunday. My children believe that young people simply do not believe in politicians, their promises and slogans. It’s not about them.
At the request of the voter
By looking at the CEC data, you can see why this is so. In the last four elections, citizens aged 50 and over accounted for about 56 percent. of all voters who voted. The oldest group was also more active in the elections than the youngest. And, in general, the most active voters are in the 55-75 age group. In the regions, this proportion is even higher in favor of the older generation.
So it is not difficult for a politician to count. The golden logic of elections, through the lips of the politicians themselves, tells a simple truth: if you want to change something in Lithuania, you have to be in the Seimas to get to the Seimas, you have to please the voter when you get to the Seimas.
Therefore, when making decisions, you will simply try to convince those who make up the majority of your voters.
Why should a politician speak to young people today if they are not elected? It goes without saying that young people are also not interested in such politics, which is why they often do not go to the polls.
The right to vote – for everyone
We became citizens of the Republic of Lithuania by birth, but we acquired the right to participate in the government of our country only at the age of 18. Until then, parents are responsible for us and have a duty to represent children.
However, one of the fundamental rights, the right to vote, cannot be assumed by parents for their children.
Parents cannot vote for their children in elections. A family of four, two parents and two children, has only two votes today. A mother raising three children has only one vote. It is true?
So if really, as the 21st century accelerates, do we try to imagine a democracy in which everyone really has one voice?
A state where the civil right to vote would be guaranteed from birth, where parents would receive a vote for their children, for their future and their life.
How would the decisions of politicians change if parents could represent their children in elections by exercising their civil right to vote?
Perhaps historical changes will occur?
The idea of giving all citizens the right to vote, guaranteed to their children by their parents or guardians until they reach the age of majority, could be an opportunity to make a big difference in the state.
At least for these five reasons.
1. It will fundamentally change politics and the electorate
According to data from the Department of Statistics, around half a million children are growing up in Lithuania, citizens who cannot be represented in elections at this time. If her voice became important, the relationship between outgoing voters and the next generation would inevitably change. Policies would therefore be automatically adapted to the needs of the younger generation.
2. Family care will come true
The family, in one form or another, appears on the agenda of all political parties before the elections, but only in words.
Parents, being able to vote for their children, will be more active in elections. Therefore, politicians will have to change priorities to ensure the support of new voters. This will change the “family” of the words out loud in the election announcements to real work and actions for the benefit of the family and children.
3. The future is for me and your children
It’s hard to imagine why advocating for future-oriented solutions.
Those who do not have children have friends, acquaintances who do. Those who have children have grandchildren, they tend to love them more than their children. Older people, to whom electoral promises are now directed, would not be at a disadvantage.
Although all three of my children are adults, I, like many others around me, want politics to focus on them and them first. They are the growing future of Lithuania.
4. Strengthen all heterogeneous parties
Political forces that see themselves and Lithuania from a broader perspective would gain a real basis to “build” their policies on the foundations of the next growing generation. That she understands them, that she stimulates interest in politics among young people. Those who will create the future of the state.
5. Opportunity for Lithuanian leadership in the world
Yes, Lithuania would be the first in the world to legalize the natural right to vote. And it may be a unique opportunity for leadership to flourish that will inspire fundamental change throughout the democratic world.
Those changes may seem too bold now, but until very recently, women’s voting rights were also incomprehensible. And there was a fierce fight for this right. In Switzerland, for example, women were only allowed to vote in 1971, and in Portugal in 1974.
Lithuania was one of the first countries in Europe to grant this right to women in 1918.
Perhaps we have a historic opportunity to advance and foster the development of democracy around the world?
Way to reality
I believe that with competent legislators and attorneys, we can find solutions to make this a reality.
By sharing this idea, the first arguments against are usually related to vote buying and antisocial families. These are unfounded fears.
Children who grow up in antisocial families make up a very small proportion of all children who deserve the right to vote. Furthermore, the number of such families in Lithuania is constantly decreasing every year. And if caring for the family really became a value and a political priority, the decline would perhaps be even faster.
So what if we didn’t go looking for breakthroughs to try to discuss first, what if?
Even if we are not all ready for this idea now and it would be doomed to burn like other backward ideas, the proposed discussion still makes very deep sense.
We have the opportunity to discuss how to strengthen democracy, develop citizenship from an early age, give a stronger voice to young people and families, change the attitude of politicians towards society in general.
In this way, we would move towards the future, no longer only towards the past.
Dalius Trumpa – businessman, patron. Head of the company “Rokiškio sūris”, patron of public initiatives.
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