Should there be a national Age of Consent?

Some things can be handled by states

 

1. It really is something that falls squarely in the states' domain (unless you transport a child across state lines).

2. I don't see that you get much benefit by standardizing.

 

I'm in favor of a national IQ of consent.

 

I would say no, but I'm genuinely troubled by the potential of some 18 or 19 year old getting registered for not breaking up with some girl he started dating in high school. If they could at least have federal guidelines that gave a minimum age discrepancy of 3-4 years coupled with a minimum age of 20 or 21 for getting felony time and on the registry for implicitly consensual acts I'd be okay with that. But for me it's just more to hedge against the extent to which municipalities restrict residence or physical presence of registered offenders nowadays.

 

Due to the 10th amendment, the Federal Government can only act within the power solely expressed in the constitution. The remaining power is given to the states.

Even if the Federal Government wanted to enact a national age standard, since they can't tie the reason to one of the enumerated powers, that leaves the decision of age consent to the states.

 

They can choose to withholds funds for highways and force states to raise their age.

 

True, its a pressure tactic that would probably be effective for a state like Louisiana.

But for a state like Texas which is sitting on roughly 12 Billion, I'm pretty sure they'd laugh.

 

It's pretty universally worked to force a universal drinking age. No state can afford to give up those funds.

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bnlv1wd13fY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>