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That is a reasonable point if you consider Brexit is a hard-to-reverse decision. Older voters have to live with the consequence of their vote for much less long

That is a reasonable point if you consider Brexit is a hard-to-reverse decision. Older voters have to live with the consequence of their vote for much less long, and unlike an ordinary political vote, the outcome can't be reversed in another five years. Older voters have a different balance of interests between "Stick it up the bureaucrats to blow steam off" and "Irreversibly change the UK's relationship with Europe" than younger voters. Maybe we should've weighted votes by projected life expectancy... On the other hand, the vote also affects people who can't vote or aren't even born yet, and there's no weighting system that can deal with that. Maybe that's a reason not to have referenda on these sorts of questions.

crusso 10y ago
If older people make voting decisions based upon a decreased impact in long-term consequences, how does that square with the statistically provable riskier behavior engaged in by younger people? If anything, I find that older people care more about the long term because they tend to think in terms of impacts on their progeny. It's just as likely that older people have decades of experience from when the UK was not a member of the EU and have relevant experience that tells them that the UK will be just fine without the EU. There are dozens of ways to spin it and show that older people might have a better perspective on a given issue. But this is exactly the kind of cherry-picking arguing that healthy societies shouldn't indulge in. Women have the basic human right of being able to vote. As do old people. We respect everyone's right to vote despite the fact that people tend to vote in their self-interests and aren't always that logical in doing so. Maybe we should've weighted votes by projected life expectancy... Is that a joke? I'm hoping that's a joke.
- serge2k 10y ago
  > If anything, I find that older people care more about the long term because they tend to think in terms of impacts on their progeny That's why Millenials are currently thriving and have such immense gratitude to the boomer generation for forward thinking policies that ensured prosperity going forward. Or not.
  - oh_sigh 10y ago
    100% agreed. Everything is someone else's fault. Nothing is ever my fault. Because someone had it easy by a fluke of luck, I deserve to have it easy too, and if I don't, that is that persons fault.

crusso 10y ago

If older people make voting decisions based upon a decreased impact in long-term consequences, how does that square with the statistically provable riskier behavior engaged in by younger people? If anything, I find that older people care more about the long term because they tend to think in terms of impacts on their progeny. It's just as likely that older people have decades of experience from when the UK was not a member of the EU and have relevant experience that tells them that the UK will be just fine without the EU. There are dozens of ways to spin it and show that older people might have a better perspective on a given issue. But this is exactly the kind of cherry-picking arguing that healthy societies shouldn't indulge in. Women have the basic human right of being able to vote. As do old people. We respect everyone's right to vote despite the fact that people tend to vote in their self-interests and aren't always that logical in doing so. Maybe we should've weighted votes by projected life expectancy... Is that a joke? I'm hoping that's a joke.

serge2k 10y ago
> If anything, I find that older people care more about the long term because they tend to think in terms of impacts on their progeny That's why Millenials are currently thriving and have such immense gratitude to the boomer generation for forward thinking policies that ensured prosperity going forward. Or not.
- oh_sigh 10y ago
  100% agreed. Everything is someone else's fault. Nothing is ever my fault. Because someone had it easy by a fluke of luck, I deserve to have it easy too, and if I don't, that is that persons fault.