Posted on 08/26/2008 7:21:38 AM PDT by AJKauf
Traditionally the age of majority was 21 until 1971. It was then granted to those who were 18.
In my feeble mind at least, either you have reached the age of majority, or you haven’t. If you have, then all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities are yours.
MADD is the group who started the “if it saves just one life” business. I understand the sadness of the survivors of those who have been killed by a drunk driver. But MADD has never stopped it’s assault on freedom, beginning with raising the drinking age.
Some things, simply cannot be prevented. Forever raising the penalties for drunk driving is not the answer. Eventually, you end up with DUI as a capital crime.
Sorry about the light sarcasm. It's not directed at you. I'm just frustrated at the way this society treats our young men and women like children for *way* too long, then pouts when they act like children for way too long.
We're the only country with this Puritanical attitude toward alcohol with the exception of the Muslim countries. Doesn't that tell you something?
Not such an easy fix. The South Carolina house introduced a bill that would make it legal for anyone in the active military over 18 to drink. The bill got nowhere because under current US law lowering the drinking age for anyone would cut highway funding for the state.
I know many young army wives. Heck, I was one. If we are old enough to send our husbands to war, raise our children on our own and live this very hard life, then we can have a beer too.
Yes Sir, it was my intent to include the service member only. Sorry Marie, while I understant the stresses of Military Spouses you have to draw the line somewhere.
Master Sergeant, US Army (RET)
States used to have control of drinking ages until the Federal Government bowed to the pressure of the MADD mommies. They all but blackmailed the states into raising the age to 21 or have their federal highway funds withheld.
I remember how sometimes my fellow under-aged Marines and I would have stay sober for a day or two while we found a new stash. Drinking age laws are a total crock.
I love the idea - Love it, I tell you!
Making an exception for those in the military only feeds the MSM beast of “Teenagers Joining the Military To Drink” & “The Military Is Filling Its Ranks With Of Young Alcoholics” etc, etc, etc
***The military needs to fill its ranks with someone, and those brave souls who are fighting for your freedoms deserve some kind of consideration, if that is what they truly want. I really don’t give a rip what the MSM thinks. I do care what the average soldier thinks, so I’m inclined to leave it up to them. A national referendum for soldiers only, with a 60% threshold for passing, would meet my approval.
Hard to get around that reasoning: old enough to die for your country, old enough to take a drink.
Nope. Sorry, but if you're an adult, you're an adult, with all rights and responsibilities, including repurcussions for actions. There should be no distinction.
I was enlisted. By the time I got in in 1987, military installations had gone to following local law on drinking age. The underage enlisted I was with did the same thing with alcohol as the underage civilians. Lots of hoarding, binge-drinking and other problems. The exception was when leadership took a blind eye and allowed us to drink, with them, at the NCO club. We were monitored, and could be taken home if we got out of hand. It's telling, when we were allowed to drink without repercussions, most of us kept our cool and we'd have a good time. When we weren't things sometimes got way our of hand.
I think there should be one age of majority for all things adult. Period.
Why should college ball be protected?
That’s unfair restraint of trade.
I know it wasn’t directed at me. That’s okay. I’m not trying to keep kids as young as long as possible, I just know from having kids and OBSERVING THEM! That they haven’t an iota of sense to be drinking at that age! The only ones who have any sense are either an oddity or they’re the ones joining the military!
Additionally, raise the minimum enlistment age to 21. If you're not mentally mature enough to handle a beer, you clearly don't have the mental maturity to understand the ramifications of what it means to die a free man, in defense of a democratic republic.
Either you're old enough to make an adult decision, or you're not.
Oh goody, the old “for your own good” argument that Jefferson warned us about.
Not this crap again.
We used the same argument when I was 18, got the right to drink then blew it with stupid behavior.
I agree.
At what point do we stop using one thing to justify another?
At 16 you can legally drive (on the highways), so if you can legally drive why can’t you legally punch people in the mouth?
Boxers can, why can’t we?
Training includes watching the effects of alcohol....
going to a morgue to watch the autopsy of an alcoholic...
going to the scene of traffic accidents caused by drunk
drivers...watching a bar fight and a killing due to
alcohol...hearing about men/women who contracted venereal
disease or ladies who got pregnant while on a “bender”
and then hearing about the good stuff about
alcohol. Like mild relaxation, relationship of red wines
to cardiac health(and not “the more the merrier”)....social
interaction increase with low doses. Some digestive help with
small doses...or the use of alcohol in low doses at
weddings, banquets, etc.
Then teaching them how much alcohol is in what, and how
different amounts can effect you differently....
Also, tell them about the penalties they can incur , families
they can alienate, and friends,and jobs they can lose cause if they
are continually drinking.
Finally, tell them about the advertising gimmicks , peer
group pressure and other ways to get one to consume more alcohol.
Then they can have their license to drink at 18, if they
are in the official service of their country.
That should cover it...
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