Gather round, frens, and listen to my appeal: Twelve score and four years ago, our forefathers built this awesome fucking country by kicking ass and taking names. We should all salute and honor them for their courage, but they were more than courageous. They were brilliant. They bequeathed to their children and the successive generations including our own, a great nation ruled not by tyrants, but by laws which we had a hand in writing ourselves. The Constitution they penned to serve as the backbone of our government is a work of stable genius. But, for many generations now, that Constitution has been under attack. That attack has taken many forms, with many ignorant voices crying out with their small-minded "justifications" for change over the decades. For the most part, those attacks have fallen short, but many have hit home and our Republic has suffered. The most potent attacks to the Constitution before this 2020th Year of Our Lord have been by exploiting one of the Constitution's most cherished features, the ability to make Amendments to "update" the Constitution to better meet the needs of Americans as time progresses inexorably. Over time, several Amendments have been made which have proven very detrimental to our Republic in the years since implementation. Let's take a brief look at those mistakes. The 16th Amendment, passed in 1913, permits Congress to levy an income tax. Basic economics states that if you want less of something, tax it. This Amendment is an obvious FAIL, unless you want to attempt the argument that we are somehow better off with less income. The 17th Amendment, also passed in 1913, completely changed the method by which we elect Senators. Prior to the 17th, state legislatures would elect the Senators sent to DC to represent each state. This made the US Senate a direct extension of our state legislatures. The 17th dictates that Senators are to be directly elected by popular vote. This change alters the nature of the US government away from the Republicanism intended by our nation's founders and toward the direct democracy for which they had disdain. Direct democracy is nothing but legalized mob rule. FAIL. The 18th Amendment, Alcohol Prohibition, passed in 1919, was such an obvious nuclear FAIL that it was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment. The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. I'm just going to leave that one here to avoid having to argue about this at length with all the beautiful well-meaning lady pedes out there. I just ask that you consider the issue thoroughly, with an eye toward the history of past empires. America is, without a doubt, a modern empire, and we will be subject to the same fate if we do the same things. From the 19th, I'm going to skip ahead to the 26th Amendment which lowered the voting age to 18. This, to me, is where America got it so wrong the injury will be fatal if not remedied soon. The 26th Amendment grew out of the controversy regarding the draft during the Vietnam War. It was the fastest Amendment ever from proposition to ratification, which took an amazingly short 100 days. It's easy to see why. Both sides of the political divide liked it. It had the support of all the anti-War young hippies, who wanted to be able to vote against the war, and it had the support of all the older pro-War patriots who wanted to show respect and gratitude for their sons who were soldiers dying by the thousands to combat communism. "If you are old enough to die for your country, you should at least be able to vote" is a forceful argument. However, I think this argument is completely destroyed by eliminating the draft. As a result, I believe this Amendment, the 26th, is the first we must repeal if we want to save America, Constitutionally, for the long haul. Here's why: [modern neuroscience indicates that the human mind is still in the developmental stage until age 25](https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/adult-brain?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1). [Jonathan Haidt](https://jonathanhaidt.com/) is a social psychologist who works for NYU. He and his research partner have put an incredible amount of time in studying the roots of moral psychology, and he's written several books about their findings. One of their discoveries is that there are 5 fundamental roots from which we can make moral decisions. Conservatives, according to their testing, use all 5 roots to varying degrees when choosing between right and wrong. Lefties only use 2 of the 5. The difference seems to be one of maturity. Lefties are either simply young and their brains are literally still developing, or they are older but have had their mental maturation process stunted for any of various reasons, like childhood trauma or intoxicants used at an early age. Repealing the 26th Amendment with an Amendment that eliminates the draft and raises the voting age to 25 would destroy the left. They absolutely depend on the immature minds of young "adults" to buy into their commie garbage bullshit. The under 25 crowd can't help but fall for it. They are physically, biologically, literally too stupid for conservatism. We NEED to deny them the ability to use their stupidity to destroy America. I know many will say, "Too little, too late. The damage has already been done!" To this I say, "All is not lost. We can save this nation, and we can fix our problems. We are Americans." This may not be the most pressing issue right now, as holding the traitorous fraudsters to account must take precedence for obvious reasons, but this single change will go a long, long way toward providing the mature governance we need to secure America's blessings for our children and their children. Thanks for your time, frens.