You're 16, You're Beautiful, You're a Voter

Today we had a seminar on an article found in Times Magazine. This was not the best seminar I have participated in but it wasn't bad either. I prepared for this seminar by reading and annotating the text. I read the text more than once just to make sure I got everything they were talking about in it. My personal opinion on this was basically "NO NO NO" I don't think that 16 year olds should be able to vote. When you are 16 you're still a kid and even if you are smart and politically aware I don't think that kids should have that responsibility til they're 18. As far as being able to get married at 16 that is an even bigger no for me. When you're 16, sure you think you're in love but really its just puppy love. Although there are those couples that are really in love and probably will stay together forever, but I just don't think that is the case with these High School relationships. When you get older you're going to meet tons of other people and most likely won't be with the person you were with when you're 18, and if you are waiting until you're 18 is good idea because if you're really in love what's the rush to get married? In the state of California you must be at least 18 years old to get married without parent consent, anyone under must go to court, counseling, and have one parent with you when you apply for a marriage license. (In addition divorce rates would increase when it is already sky high)
Going on to the next topic, the drinking age being lowered is a great idea. I think once 16 year olds have access to it, they're less likely to abuse it. Another thing I was thinking about is that most teenagers drink because they're not allowed to and they think its cool to do things you're not suppose to do, but once you're allowed drinking probably won't be as appealing to teenagers since its allowed.
This seminar could've been a lot more organized, also a lot of people including myself were intterupting others. Although this was not our best seminar I believe I learned a lot about my peers opinions.