Teenagers already live in a dystopia. Their lives are controlled by the government and their parents. If legal adults were treated like American teenagers, that government would be considered one of the most oppressive on Earth.

The government requires 6-16-year-olds to attend a government institution that subjects them to unconstitutional searches. Here, in public schools, they must ask permission to use the bathroom, eat when they are told, and not speak unless called upon.

If you are under 18 you cannot work without government permission, and cannot even walk on public sidewalks at certain times of day, like during school hours or after a certain time of night.

And the age that you have all your rights keeps creeping up. 18 is a legal adult who still cannot buy or drink alcohol legally.

California wants to restrict driver's licenses until age 21. If the governor signs this bill, driver's under 21 cannot drive after 11 p.m. or have friends in the car. California, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, and Oregon limit tobacco sales to those aged 21 or older. Other states like Indiana and New Hampshire are considering the same.

Lawmakers frequently float ideas about extending the school day and extending the school year. Some even want to add an extra two years to high school.

A New Mexico bill would force high school juniors to apply to at least one college. Students could get a waiver if they prove that they are going to a vocational school, internship, apprenticeship, or military service.

The New Mexico bill is modeled after a similar requirement that Gentry said was put in place for high school students in San Marcos, Texas, more than a decade ago. And last year in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel made post-high school plans a graduation requirement — saying students had to either have plans to enter the military, take part in a "gap year" program, get a job offer or apprenticeship, or have an acceptance letter from a college.

Perhaps politicians have the best intentions, but their programs are coercive. For over a hundred years, the government has been stripping "children" of their rights, and artificially extending childhood.

And this is the cause of the tumultuous teens. Freedom makes people happy, and freedom fighters of any age will go to great lengths to resist oppression.