“Over the strong objection of federal safety officials, a quiet movement to lower the legal drinking age to 18 is taking root as advocates argue that teenagers who are allowed to vote and fight for their country should also be able to enjoy a beer or two.”
Let those willing to fight for their country drink at age 18. As for the rest of the cowards ... let em wait till they are more mature.
The infamous facist police state of Germany has a drinking age of 16.
Thank God we live in a free country, where it is 21.
(rolls eyes)
It is not logical to say you are an adult in all but one area. Either lower the drinking age to 18 or raise the age of adulthood to 21.
The only thing that is different today, is that people then were willing to take responsibility for their actions, even when they were drunk. Now, we have Lawyers to “protect” us from the consequences of our own stupids decisions.
Hmmm. Wonder how I’d vote on this.
I’ve always believed that if you’re old enough to die for your country, you’re old enough for a fscking’ beer.
I think the drinking age should be 19, as well as gambling, viewing porn, smoking, enlisting in the military, voting, etc.
The federal highway funds were used to make the states roll over on this issue or there would be many 18 year olds who would already be full citizens.
“The legal age for alcohol in the USA is 21 years old. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public possession of alcohol age to 21. States that did not comply faced a reduction in highway funds under the Federal Highway Aid Act. The U.S. Department of Transportation has determined that all states are in compliance with this act. The national law specifically prohibits purchase and public possession of alcoholic beverages. It does not prohibit persons under 21 (also called youth or minors) from drinking.”
State laws vary.
Hmm, might help with recruiting. I now it would solve a bunch of 1SG problems at company parties.
This law, like many others (lowering the BAC, etc), was pushed through by the powerful insurance lobby. Whether or not it saves lives, it’s a defacto restriction of the civil rights of American adults, and quite unconstitutional.
If they are mature enough to defend our country or vote, they must be responsible enough to be allowed to drink.
In fact, it could be argued that raising the drinking age actually caused more teen drunk-driving deaths and other alcohol-related tragedies. This is because the under-21 crowd were driven underground, forced to do their drinking away from responsible adults, increasing their chances to do stupid things and get into trouble.
The really sad thing about the mandated drinking age is the notion that upon a certain age (such as 21), a person magically becomes responsible to drink alcohol. This logic is a ridiculous as tossing your kid the keys to the family car the day he becomes old enough to drive and saying "have at it, son."
Of course you wouldn't do that. You would get your kid a driver's permit and some extensive training behind the wheel before you even thought of handing him the keys to the car. So why does society think it is any different with alcohol? Parents and responsible adults used to be the "training wheels" for young adults to learn how to use alcohol responsibility.
When I was 17 back in the 1970s, I could have a beer with my father in the back yard. Thus I learned my limits under adult supervision and never got myself in any kind of alcohol-related trouble. These days, a father doing that for his son would get arrested and thrown in jail.
So government nanny types apparently operate under the delusion that due to their silly mandated drinking age, young adults are to have no alcohol whatsoever. Yet on their 21st birthday, they are suddenly mature enough to saunter into a bar and order up Long Island iced teas.
What a weird country we live in.
What a joke!...like any 18 year old who seriously wants a drink isn’t going to get one?...Why make it legal so they can go out and kill themselves and others on the highway?