If You're Old Enough to Join the Army, You're Old Enough to Vote

"Hello, miserlou, I believe that this debate is a little weak, but it is still quite interesting. You said "But there are people who believe otherwise and so I wanted to debate it. The argument isn't invalid, it just means that (presumably) the majority already agrees with me. I am arguing a principal." The argument is invalid, considering the fact that the age is the same. I also would like to know who (this is only applicable to people over 18) doesn't know that the age is the same? where does that common misconception come into play?" Okay, everyone knows what the current law is. It's just the question of agreeing with it or not. This person was my dad actually, and he disagreed with the idea that being old enough to join the army means that someone is old enough to vote. What you're saying is that because the law is already in my favor that my argument is flawed. I'm not campaigning for social change here, I just want to debate. Any resolution can be debated, no matter what everyone else's opinion of it is. "I agree with that, and I agreed with that in my previous statement. you are only reiterating what I just said. " But then I explained why that doesn't matter. I just restated rather then using quotes. "The qualifications are different. That is the key word. They don't fall into the same category at all." However the qualifications for joining the army do not fall outside the qualifications for voting. Have you ever heard "every duck is a bird, but not every bird is a duck"? Not every voter is qualified to join the army, but everyone who joins the army should be able to vote. There's nothing you have to do to be in the army that would somehow make you unqualified for voting. In some cases it might make you more qualified. "There are 1000's of men that fight in the army that are not of american descent or from America. They get brought in from other parts of the world to fight for America. Should they be allowed to vote? Should they have a say? " What I think you're talking about are mercenaries or foreign citizens living in the U.S. who join the army. First off, they can't vote in America because they are not American citizens, but they have the maturity level to vote, and should be able to in their own countries (according to their own governments). The original argument was that if people are old, i.e. mature, enough to be soldiers that they are old, i.e. mature, enough to vote. Foreigners aren't too immature to vote, they're just not American citizens. Which brings me to the point that foreigners are not compelled to join American wars. Soldiers-for-hire are doing it for the money and other foreign troops that are sent in by our allies can take it up with their own governments if they don't want to fight. For example, if a soldier in Australia doesn't want to go to Iraq should petition his government not to aid us, the same an American soldier who didn't want to go to Iraq would over here (The morality of the Iraq War is another debate and has nothing to do with this; it's just an example). As for foreigners living here, it is there decision to join the army. I'm not sure whether they can be drafted, but if they can then it's wrong and ties in with my point in Round 1 about getting drafted and having no say.