The Drinking Age
Posted by Frankly Francis on March 17, 2009 under Social Issues/Politics | 
8 Comments to Read
Every state in the union has decided that you must 21 years of age to purchase and/or consume alcoholic beverages. How did this event unanimously occur amongst 50 states that have some substantial differences in their laws? As I understand it, the federal government decreed that if any state’s legal drinking age was below 21, that state would not receive any federal funding for its highways. Federal coercion and extortion!
Here’s what you can do at age 18:
You are expected to vote for your elected officials, and from an American national perspective, vote for a President who can wage nuclear war upon the planet.
You can join the military armed forces and by doing so, be committed to accepting orders that will result in your death, under penalty of court martial.
You can you enter into legally binding contracts and loans.
But you are not considered by American society to be responsible enough to buy a six-pack of beer.
At the time that I tuned 18, I could legally purchase alcoholic beverages in the state of New York. Moving forward a couple of years, I am 20 years old, a few months away from my 21st birthday. I am in the State of California where the drinking age was then 21, as it now is on a national basis. I am in the United States Air Force. I am married. I have a child. I vote. I can’t buy a beer. This could not seem more ridiculous to me at that time and it still feels completely ridiculous to me now.
So, if I were 18 years old today, I would really be pissed. I think it is illogical.
Ponder this and then Please, Seriously:
Don’t let a kid be legally obligated to die in military service if he/she is not responsible enough to buy a beer. Don’t let a kid be legally obligated to a contract if he/she is not responsible enough to buy a beer. Don’t let a kid vote if he/she is not responsible enough to buy a beer.
Let’s get it right, one way or the other. Few things seem simpler to me, one way or the other.
Frankly,
Francis
nolaphile said,
i’d raise the age of everything else. i drove too drunk and knew 2 things at 18: jack and shit.
Peter said,
I agree with that thought. Just wanted to add I think the reason the age is 21 is because they don’t want people to be able to drive and drink at the same time. What I mean is they want to give people a chance to learn about driving before they get a car and go drinking at 18 and get killed but that is just my theory.
Steve Headrick said,
You can buy a gun, are expected to fight for you country,
can be convicted to life in prison, have typically satisfied the requirements for schooling (high school – we aren’t ‘required’ any additional learning), but aren’t considered enough of an ‘adult’ to purchase an alcoholic beverage?
Why?
Because Big Government and their cronies,
The Insurance Companies,
and the Banks (Ya know – Visa & Master Card)
pretty much run the show.
And they KNOW what’s best for us.
So we all need to just shut up and get back in line –
I’m sure that they’re working on a new ‘law’ for that, too.
We still have ‘Freedom of Speech’, but ‘Big Gov’,
never said anything about them having to LISTEN.
In 1986 Mojo Nixon penned the following:
Burn Down The Malls – (excerpt)
“…Now another thing is kinda gettin’ on my nerves…
another thing that’s kinda gettin’ on my nerves is this
national 21 drinking age
Huh? what do ya think about that?
A bunch of malarky, whatever malarky is man,
it’s a whole bunch of it..
Ya know if Reagan finally gets the war he’s lookin for
you think he’s gonna be draftin’ 21 year olds?
No man, they’re gonna be draftin’ 18 and 19 year olds
but ya cant buy a beer
you can get married and screw yourself up real good
but ya can’t buy a beer
ya can charge 8 million dollars on the mastercharge
but ya can’t buy a beer
you can vote for one fool or another
but ya can’t buy a beer
’cause this is America
America that’s run by the lowest common denominator –
THE MONEY”
User Loser said,
Outlaw the car. I mean the big deal supposedly was to keep young drivers off alcohol. But cars are dangerous for all drivers. When they did studies on it they found that new drivers whatever the age were more dangerous. Older drivers start to get dangerous. A lot of them get overcautious and cause real danger to other drivers. We have as society made a bad bargain to make land developers happy and built our cities to require the automobile. Cars suck they’re inefficient dirty and inconvenient. Not to mention they just aren’t reliable. Dangerous your name is Car. America is a particularly car stupid country. Its sad the United States had at one time a quite good mass transit system that didn’t rely on the automobile.
Steve Headrick said,
Outlaw cars! but not Harleys. right?
User Loser said,
Uh Right
User Loser said,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZI6v8Z6Q6E&feature=related
MIchael Collins said,
I really think the drinking age should 18. It was raised to 21 to combat drinking and driving. The right way to do that is through education and awareness. Walk into any bar at night and you will see plenty of people above the limit of drinking and driving getting ready to do it. So clearly raising the drinking age did not work. More to that point it HAS increased the amount of binge drinking that college kids do. Before college kids would go to ratskellers on campus and drink moderated by the bartender. Now they are pounding a bottle of Jack in thier room before they go out.
I lived in Europe for 4 years and they have no problem with binge drinking or drinking and driving. In fact in England is it such a faux pas that you would not even think about doing it. You see European countries teach moderation of alcohol from a young age. Kids have a beer with lunch and a glass of wine with dinner at the age of 14. I think many we have thing a little (or many a lot!) wrong here in the US.
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