Vivek Ramaswamy. (RI photo)
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is proposing that the voting age be raised to 25, with some exceptions. Ramaswamy’s proposed amendment to the constitution would let Americans who volunteer for a six month stint in the military or as first responders vote when they reach the age of 18. Young adults who pass the same civics test administered to applicants for U.S. citizenship also would get the right to vote before the age of 25 under his “Civic Duty Voting” plan.
“Some of you will not agree with it and that is OK,” Ramaswamy said earlier this evening, “…but I think if we are going to pass on civic pride to the next generation, we can’t anymore just be a country that you inherit. We have to come a country that we all have a stake in creating, in building together.”
Ramaswamy released his proposal today while campaigning in Iowa and drew cheers tonight from a crowd in Urbandale. “We’re going to have to think big,” Ramaswamy said. “We’re going to have to be ambitious. This problem is not going to solve itself on its own. I think it is a problem that young people don’t vote enough in this country, but if you make it something that you actually have to earn, you value it any more. It’s human nature. It’s psychology.”
Ramaswamy — the author of a book titled “A Nation of Victims” — told the crowd young people are being taught to hate the country. He cited a recent survey from Morning Consult, a firm that specializes in online polling. It found only 16% of Generation Z is proud to live in the U.S.
“We’re going to have to think big to find our way out of this decline in national pride for the next generation,” Ramaswamy said. “If we let that slide go, that’s a generation lost. We don’t have a generation to lose in this country.”
Ramaswamy’s proposal would affect some, but not all of those in Generation Z, which is generally considered to be people between the ages of 13 and 27. Ramaswamy is 37 and the youngest candidate in the field of GOP presidential candidates. He’s a former hedge fund manager and was CEO of a biotech company.