Volume 3, Issue 3: May - June, 2002

Contents Cover Story     Child Labor Laws Articles     Just In My Opinion     Perspective     Sue’s Review Features     Buzz     Letters     News Links     Redirect

Just In My Opinion by Woty Freeman, Board Member, ASFAR (Woty Freeman fills in for ASFAR President Justin Mallone, who was in the process of moving to a new home in May 2002.) Kids Are People ASFAR does not exist simply to oppose age restrictions at any cost.  It exists to promote the view that young people are capable human beings, with human rights.  Every other position we take is an implication of this basic goal, and not the basis for the organization.  Our objection to the drinking age can’t be about achieving consistency with other bad laws, such as the age of majority.  It’s about respecting the basic humanity of all people, and fighting for the rights of young people.  Similarly, ending compulsory schooling is not about the “best interests” of children; it’s about the right of children to come to their own conclusions about what’s best for them.  We must consistently combat the idea that young people are subhuman, and fight any law that would deny our humanity.  This is the way we can win, because this way we have deep arguments that thinking people ought to accept. Respecting the humanity of young people means opposing all age restrictions, but it also means opposing unjust laws that affect people of all ages.  Taking the position that we are people who deserve rights means we must favor eliminating age discrimination by expanding freedom, not expanding restrictions.  We could achieve a society free from age restrictions by expanding government power and requiring licenses for everything from homeschooling to getting a tattoo.  We could also eliminate some age restrictions by banning drinking, smoking, firearms, cars, and having a dictatorship instead of voting.  This would be consistent with an objective to get rid of age discrimination, but inconsistent with the true goal of recognizing, legally and socially, the humanity of young people (and everyone else).  If we take the wrong stand or refuse to speak on any youth rights issue, we are betraying the people we are fighting for. Every issue matters.  The drinking age, the driving age, the voting age, firearms restrictions, drug restrictions, sexual age of consent laws, child labor laws, laws enforcing parental authority, and others all deny young people the ability to exercise their rights and live full lives.  In some cases, especially in the instance of laws preventing young people from having guns, the laws make it impossible for young people to stay alive at all.  These laws are all unacceptable, and any upholding or trivializing of them is wrong. There are people who attempt to trivialize our movement by saying that we only care about avoiding frustrating laws, and not about justice and the proper function of laws.  These people are wrong—but they would be correct if our reason for fighting age restrictions was simply the fact that we find them annoying.  We are not simply fighting for faster transportation or easier access to alcohol.  We are fighting the evil idea that young people are subhuman creatures somewhere between apes and modeling clay, and advocating the idea that we are all human beings with human rights.  If our best argument to offer people who initially oppose our ideas is a description of the annoyance of being unable to drive or buy beer, there is no reason people ought to be convinced to take up our cause.  (They will, properly, regard us as a bunch of whining kids who care more about getting our own way than we do about what laws a good society ought to have.)  It’s only if we have good, consistent principles we can stand on and argue from that we will convince thinking people that we should have equal rights.  The human rights of people, including young people, are something we can stand on, argue from, and fight for.