There comes to a certain age limit whereas people should vote. I agree on the part that it could help wipe out discrimination against younger voters. However, giving voting rights to small children and adolescents may not be the smartest of all ideas. I'm not saying that children are stupid, but most children do not have the same knowledge as a young adult or far more than a experienced adult. It will provide difficulty for those children who don't know politics that well, yet some may be persuaded by their parents by telling them who to vote for, or the children may vote for whoever candidate pops out first, and so on, when the real vote should count for the knowledge of both or multiple candidates, then selecting the one the person thinks might be best suitable for the position.

Jeeeeez. Who gets to vote next? German Shepherds, I bet.

That is kinda scary. A friend of mine returned from running a cattle ranch in Bolivia a couple of years ago. While there, she ran into a colony of German Nazis, whose founders had escaped from Germany in the waning days of WWII and immediately after. She said they try to operate in secret and stay low under the radar. For generations they had been raising their kids and indoctrinating them to believe in Hitler's ideals. Then they send them back to Germany to go to college and to hopefully recolonize Germany. Don't know if I want them getting the vote any earlier than they do. Hopefully if they are in the country for a while and getting exposed to some other ways of thinking, maybe there is a chance they might think differently later.

I think that is the dumbest idea I have ever heard. D-U-M-B-E-S-T.

That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Children are still learning and are easily manipulated. Under the proposal, parents would vote for their children, I can see a lot of parents voting for who they want, but putting it in their children's names

1) Here is a working link for your reference (I suppressed the spaces): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/2275407/Germany-plans-to-give-vote-to-babies.html The mentioned FDP, who makes that proposal, is not Germany, but a small Party which was one *traditional* coalition Partner of Angela Merkel's CDU. It is in the opposition at the moment. "In the 2005 general election the party won 9.8 percent of the vote and 61 federal deputies, an unpredicted improvement from prior opinion polls." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freie_Demokratische_Partei As mentioned in your reference, the chances for this bill to be adopted seem quite low. 2) "Around the turn of the 21st century a number of countries began to consider whether the voting age ought to be reduced further, with arguments most often being made in favour of a reduction to 16. The earliest moves came during the 1990s, when the voting age for municipal elections in some states of Germany was lowered to 16. Lower Saxony was the first state to make such a reduction, in 1995, and four other states later copied the move." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_age 3) As far as a reduction under the age of 16 is considered, it usually means that the parents are given more voting power as they use the vote of their children (of course, it is not the children themselves who are going to vote). The idea is to protect the rights of the future generations in a country where there are very few children, families are poorer that people without children, and sometimes a "After me, the deluge" could destroy children's future. Some further information about similar ideas can be found here: "We, the KinderRÄchTsZÄnker, stand for the abolition of the age limit for voting. We believe there will be a lot of indirect consequences for the whole of society, when children are no longer denied the right to vote - towards more peacefulness and contentedness of all humans, not just children." Source and further information: http://en.kraetzae.de/vote/ 4) Personally, I am not sure whether this is the best way to solve the problems, but I don't find it stupid.

It is a silly and ridiculous idea but there is a reason to it. Europe has grown old, most of the population is over 50+ and as time goes by very few people have children reason why they are encouraging young immigrants to work in their territory as those are the ones that provide kids to the population statistics.

Very stupid.

Bad idea. Children have no concept of policy. I know I didn't. The children will probably just vote as their parents do, simply giving larger families more votes.

Stupid idea. Germany in this respect desire that which is evil and that is giving children the ability to make choices only adults should make. They do not know whats' best, only what's been taught to them.

Titanicly stupid. Nothing like pandering to people that are easy to manipulate.