[Hemingway's Ghost]

In fact, "the government" is us. It is WE THE PEOPLE who have decided these things, and at the state level.

That isn't true---at least when it comes to state drinking ages. In the early-to-mid 1980s, the federal government declared it would stop spending federal highway money in states that refused to raise their drinking ages to 21. Sure enough, each state changed its legal drinking age to 21. I was a college freshman in one of the last states to raise its drinking age---Vermont---and I could drink legally at 18 in '86.

[Illbay]

Hm. I don't see anything there about anyone being forced to raise the age. I just see where the states have allowed the Federal government too much power.

But I remember how, when we lived in Alabama in the early 80s, the debate went on and the voters overwhelmingly approved it via state referendum.