{"id":4872,"date":"2025-10-15T14:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/4872\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T14:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:54:08","slug":"if-youre-old-enough-to-serve-youre-old-enough-to-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/4872\/","title":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re old enough to serve, you\u2019re old enough to lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

During a recent Fort Lauderdale City Commission debate, we discussed whether 18-year-olds should be eligible to run for public office. Some argued that young adults lack the maturity or experience to shoulder that responsibility. I see it differently.<\/p>\n

When I was 18, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. The government trusted me with the awesome responsibility of defending this nation. I was expected to act with discipline, judgment and courage \u2014 the same qualities we ask of anyone in public service. If our country can trust an 18-year-old to carry a rifle in defense of freedom, surely a city can trust one to sit behind a dais and make decisions about potholes, parks and public policy.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Herbst is vice mayor of Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

At 18, Americans can vote, sign contracts, serve on juries, get married and be tried as adults. They can pay taxes and go to war. To deny them the right to run for office is to tell them they\u2019re responsible enough to die for their country but not to help govern it. That\u2019s not consistent with the principles of self-government.<\/p>\n

What also strikes me as inconsistent in today\u2019s politics is that we often expand personal choice for young people in some areas while restricting it in others. We trust them with weighty decisions about their education, health, sexuality and future \u2014 yet we hesitate to trust them with civic responsibility. If we believe 18-year-olds are capable of making adult choices in every other part of life, then they should also be trusted to participate fully in democracy.<\/p>\n

Adulthood should mean something. If we say that legal adulthood begins at 18, then the rights and responsibilities of adulthood should apply consistently \u2014 not selectively based on convenience or politics. Either we believe in the capacity of young adults to make decisions, or we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Some say age equals wisdom \u2014 and perhaps that\u2019s true, at least in theory. But as anyone who has served in public life knows, maturity isn\u2019t guaranteed by the number of candles on a birthday cake. In fact, our own city recently found it necessary to adopt a code of conduct<\/a> for elected officials, several of whom are past 60. So let\u2019s not pretend that age alone ensures good judgment.<\/p>\n

Allowing 18-year-olds to run for office doesn\u2019t guarantee anyone a seat. It simply guarantees them a chance \u2014 the chance to offer their perspective, share their energy, and earn the trust of voters. The electorate is perfectly capable of deciding who is ready to lead. That\u2019s how democracy renews itself.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale has always valued civic participation and opportunity. We should not close the door to those who have just reached adulthood; we should invite them to take part in shaping their future. If you can vote, work, pay taxes and serve in uniform, you\u2019ve earned the right to serve in office.<\/p>\n

Old enough to serve means old enough to lead.<\/p>\n

John Herbst is vice mayor of Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During a recent Fort Lauderdale City Commission debate, we discussed whether 18-year-olds should be eligible to run for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[483,249,251,250,114,482],"class_list":{"0":"post-4872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-commentary","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","11":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-opinion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}