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Youth Rights Manifesto

I love how adults always want rights and freedoms for themselves, but would deny it to young adults who have been trapped in an artificial extension of childhood called "adolescence".

It is my sincere belief that people should be judged and treated solely on their individual merits, not their age. Adolescence is the invention of industrialized society and is used as an excuse to deprive young people ages 14 to 18 of the freedoms they would have already been granted in a more natural state. Childhood should end at the first sign of adolescence and adult status should be immediately granted. Anything else is a violation of a person's natural rights and a gross disrespect.

While understandable with small children, who cannot yet distinguish fantasy from reality, is restricting the access of teenagers to their media of choice really about protection, or about control?

In my libertarian America, the age of consent would be lowered from 18 to 14, the usual age of the onset of biological adulthood. Young people at this age would have the right to stay out all night, move out on their own, work full time, sign binding contracts, smoke, drink, drive, own a firearm, watch whatever movies and play whatever video games they pleased.

And for those of you who cry about responsibility, yes they would be held fully responsible for their own actions. And for those of you who cry, "They're just children! They're not ready!" That's because society has conditioned them to believe they are not ready and to not even think of being an adult until the 20s. If we changed our entire way of dealing with young people and groomed them for an adult life at 14, most teens would rise to the challenge. The ones who don't, well, tough shit for them.

Freedom is a birth right, not a reward that must be earned.