Parents to Vote for Kids?

Thanks to a response to my most recent LRC article, I was made aware of a proposal regarding voting rights in Australia, which is more related to my recent posts on voting age and universal suffrage than the article. Not that that makes it uninteresting or without value. By no means!

The Australian proposal of introducing voting rights for all persons born, parents exercising them until their kids reach the majority age, resembles a proposal put forward by HIRH Archduke Otto in The Social Order of Tomorrow. The Archduke recommended giving the voting rights to the family provider. This sounds like something giving the family provider a stronger position vis-à-vis his rival the Provider State – a.k.a. the Welfare State.

Also, giving more voting rights to people with children will tend to give more voting rights to people who are more future-oriented.

However, with all due respect, I am skeptical.

The practical problem of deciding how two parents can decide their kids’ votes – or in the case of the Archduke’s proposal, in cases of doubt deciding who is the family provider – I consider minor compared to problems with the concept itself.

Firstly, the history of the expansion of the franchise has not exactly proven to be a history of increased protection of the individual vis-à-vis the government.

Secondly, in our present situation there is a considerable risk that more votes to families with minor kids will lead to a demand for more tax funding of parental leaves, schools, etc. I.e., there is a risk that it is the Provider State that will be strengthened, not the traditional provider.

Thirdly, when a political innovation is embraced by leftists, there is reason to watch out. I’m not saying that what leftists believe in necessarily is bad, but I’m saying that one needs to be careful.

Fourthly, assigning a vote to every citizen no matter the age, leaving it to a parent or guardian in cases of legal minority, strengthens political egalitarianism and the thought that one’s value as a human is dependent on the right to vote. Political egalitarianism needs weakening, not strengthening, and we need to rid ourselves of the concept that human value is somehow derived from the right to vote. One should also note that telling the government that “we need votes, otherwise we do not matter” also is telling the government how important it is.