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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:46:30 PM EDT
[#1]
One age of majority. 18 or 21. Pick one and keep it consistent.
Guns, driving, booze, contracts, military service, death penalty/adult justice, etc. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:50:00 PM EDT
[#2]
Dosent matter, everyone does it anyways. Its pretty BS that I can get drafted own guns but I cant buy a beer.
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:50:43 PM EDT
[#3]
First back in the era of Viet Nam, 38 states had dropped the drinking age to 18, 19, or 20.
Second, if one looks at the drinking ages of industiralized contries and teh problems of underaged drinking, there is an inverse correlation. For those who live in Rio Linda, that means that when the drinking age is lowered, fewer problem arrise. I happen to believe that the drinking age should be 16 and that the age of driving shold be 21. This ggives the drinker 5 years to get his drinking out of the way before he gets behind the wheels of automobiles. It also solves the high school parking problem (hint nobody of HS age is allowed to drive), and goe some distance to solving the teenage pregancy problems (no back seat inwhich to do the deed). But with our heavily christian culture, the probability that states of the feds "do the right thing" (where right thing is to minimize harm to others and maximize societal benefits) is virtually zero. Ban the Babtists -- do it for the children (in jest) |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:52:14 PM EDT
[#4]
I have no idea why the drinking age is 21? It is such an arbitrary age to declare someone legal to drink.
I suspect that it has to do in large part with the ability of county and city governments to make HUGE amounts of money in fines against minors in possession. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:52:28 PM EDT
[#5]
I love the rhetoric about "if you can go to war..."
Funny, I don't see anyone proposing that the limit be dropped to 18, with military ID. Now THAT would be interesting. Heck, it may even help with recruiting: "Man up, and society will treat you like one." |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:53:49 PM EDT
[#6]
let's just make it 12, start'em early.
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:53:52 PM EDT
[#7]
+1 |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:53:54 PM EDT
[#8]
I drank a lot more before I turned 21.
It was a lot cooler when you couldn't legally do it. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:54:03 PM EDT
[#9]
I take it you are from an urban area? How the hell is someone supposed to get to work, etc. if they can't drive? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:54:06 PM EDT
[#10]
I almost agree. However, I think the drinking age should be 16 and driving age 18 as most people at 18 need to drive for either work or school at that point and we lack a public transporation system in this country capable of providing them transportation like Europe. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:54:28 PM EDT
[#11]
Yeah that makes alot of sense, I guess some animals are equal then others. 
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:55:50 PM EDT
[#12]
I would agree to that if any proposed draft only affected drinkers. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:56:14 PM EDT
[#13]
was 18 when I was 18, never had a problem
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:56:20 PM EDT
[#14]
 We need LESS idiotic sanctimonious arrogance, not more of it.
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:57:31 PM EDT
[#15]
+1. This is the way it was when I was 18 and I could drink in most places. I managed to survive, somehow. It was easy to get alcohol under 18............
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:57:42 PM EDT
[#16]
was a long time ago.. when i was 18, we had to use fakes to get our beer.. and that was part of the game. this is in the late 60's.. then they made it 18 cause if you was old enough to get drafted and die in nam you were old enough to buy beer legally... then it swung the other way.. mayhap it just swingin the other way again.. nothin ever changes or it least it comes back around again.. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:58:15 PM EDT
[#17]
Exactly! Let's blanket all 18 ear olds under "they can die for thier country.."  I'm all for letting someone who joins the military drink when they are 18, but not every stupid little pimple faced 18 year old! |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:58:21 PM EDT
[#18]
I got in under the wire in FL.
When I turned 19, that was the legal age. About 3 months later, the age went to 21, they grandfathered in those already legal under the old law 
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Posted: 8/14/2007 2:59:13 PM EDT
[#19]
In some places, its the unwritten rule... which I took advantage of many times last time I was home. It came up for debate in the PA House this summer, but the military didn't want to give their guys privileges that set them above their civilian counterparts... now if only certain other groups could follow that example. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:00:09 PM EDT
[#20]
But its ok for someone thats 18 to sign up for our millitary and die for our country, but he/she still can't have a beer? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:01:08 PM EDT
[#21]
I happen to agree with you on this. Why not reward our troops and boost the lower enlisted moral. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:01:37 PM EDT
[#22]
Well an 18 year old can walk into a gunstore and buy an AR. Guess we should take that away because all 18 year olds are irresponsible. Are 18 year olds usually idiots? Yes. But I would rather them be 18 year old idiots that did thier idiot things under supervision of responsible adults. You think when a group of 18 year olds sneak out to drink and one of them gets dangeriously intoxicated they are going to call for help? Nope, they are too worried about getting caught. Ive lost count the number of times I had people in college who knew I was an EMT, who called me instead of 911 when someone underage was dangerously intoxicated because they were afraid of getting in trouble. Many times these kids were so intoxicated that they couldnt maintain an airway and had periods of apnea. If I hadnt done the right thing and called a squad for them, a few might not still be here. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:01:45 PM EDT
[#23]
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:02:27 PM EDT
[#24]
So anyone who hasn't served in the military is inferior and/or less of a man. Got it. Serving in the military is not a sign of maturity. It is not a sign of higher intelligence. It does not make a person more trustworthy. If you two served in the military, which I'm guessing from your comments that you did, you should know this. The military has its fair share of stupid, dishonest, immature shitbags. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:02:50 PM EDT
[#25]
I'm on a college campus almost daily. The current laws give enforcement mechanisms to campus and other police agencies to stop a plethora of nonsense. There are a number of kids who have had their butts saved by getting cited for underage possession before they ended up getting drunk and getting behind the wheel. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:02:51 PM EDT
[#26]
You do realize that underaged kids in college are probably the biggest drinkers, right? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:03:18 PM EDT
[#27]
i was a bartender for 5 years. worked a part time gig in a mini mart for a while too.
whenever i carded for alcohol, if they showed me a military ID, they got what they wanted whether they were of "legal age" or not. more often than not, they got it for free too. i guess word got around pretty quickly, because one night i ended up giving away 4 or 5 cases worth of beer, 12 at a time. and yes, i paid for it at the mini mart. but when behind the bar i had a "spill list" that got a little high some nights. damn, im a clutz.  drinking age should stay where its at, IMO. maybe could stand to go up a few years. but i think that should apply to civilians only. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:03:23 PM EDT
[#28]
Not that I encourage underage drinking, but in HS my friends and I never were lacking for beer or liquor. Being able to walk into a bar and do it legally was cool though at 19 back in the day. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:06:17 PM EDT
[#29]
So you think it would be just as popular to "get wasted" if it was perfectly legal to drink and you could now do it with your parents/older siblings/ect, rather than in hinding under the bleachers with your idiot 18 year old friends? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:07:47 PM EDT
[#30]
Yeah they have laws against things like that, like drunk in public. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:07:56 PM EDT
[#31]
Idiotic liberal logic. Make it illegal to prevent them from doing something illegaler. HEY you can't do _________ because you might do _____________. Where have we seen this formula used over and over an d over and over? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:10:08 PM EDT
[#32]
You ever seen a 21st party? Ever seen how absolutely trashed people get, stumbling around and slurring about how they turned 21? I'm in classes with college aged kids daily...especially those over 21....the idea that the "mystique" will disappear is silly. To the majority of them getting hammered is synonymous with having a "good time"....which is why there is no shortage of "dude, I was so wasted this weekend" in 400 and 500 level classes. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:10:55 PM EDT
[#33]
Whatever. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:14:53 PM EDT
[#34]
But yet they are mature enough to sign up for the military and fight for YOUR freedom and die so you can make statements like the one above At 18 you are legally an adult, you can get the full punishment for murder, you can go buy a 4 million dollar house if you have the money. So the way I see it 1 of two things needs to happen, either they need to up the enlistment age to 21 (which will never happen) or two they need to lower the drinking age to where it should have been a LONG time ago. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:18:59 PM EDT
[#35]
they really need to lowere the drinking age on post back to 18 because like has been said earlier getting the alcohol isn't a problem and soldiers will drink no matter what. it's just now they have to hide it like trying to drive home instead of asking an NCO to pick them up. or they get drunk off post and cause problems. Before I got to korea they raised the drinking age for soldiers from 20-21 because of there being too many alcohol related incidents. the incidents didn't go down they actually increased because now people had to hide it and in korea they would actually do things like breathalize people comming in the gate near curfew. so if you couldn't get sober befoer then guys would just stay out all night and wonder around into bad areas or stay in a hotel and get in the same field grade article 15 they would have gotten for being underage drunk. if they really wanted to lower the ammount of drinking incidents they should have lowered the drinking age (less under age people to get in trouble which was most of the incedents by itself) and givin incetives like they do here in the states. i.e. days off work for the unit being DUI free.
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:19:17 PM EDT
[#36]
You can't continuously use the "I'm old enough to serve in the military" line, and not expect someone to eventually ask, "well, why don't you then." If "old enough for military service" is the deciding line for when you are old enough to drink - it only makes sense that that privilege be granted to those who actually do serve. Otherwise, I wish people would shut the heck up already about being old enough to serve in the military - it sounds pathetic. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:19:19 PM EDT
[#37]
Regardless of what side you are on, it will NEVER happen. The feds control the pursestrings on road building, maintainance and "safety" funding and would probably cut or refuse to give any $$$ to a state that lowered it. Might as well wish for free F/A weapons for all.
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:21:05 PM EDT
[#38]
one other thing kind of unrelated but kind of funny. if they ever legalize pot (the best way to kill the market) they will still never let soldiers do it because it would make us even lazier than we already are.
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:23:15 PM EDT
[#39]
So should the age be raised to 25? 30? Why is it, that Germany has a fraction of the binge drinking, drunk driving, etc. problems that the US has, despite the fact that access to alcohol is much easier? Funny - I remember college well. I grew up drinking - I still remember my first champagne at 9 years old. I watched all the dry county raised, teetotaler parents, alcohol is a sin, types become raging drunks - and laughed. I still laugh. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:23:53 PM EDT
[#40]
As if the drinking age does anything to stem teenage drinking.
I'm just curious, what age group contributes to the most alcohol-related fatalities? I honestly don't know. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:24:22 PM EDT
[#41]
correct. man has been getting "wasted" since we discovered alcohol. it being illegal for anyone under 21 to consume doesn't make it some forbidden fruit that is more prone to be abused. the only exception to that is once someone turns 21 in the united states its almost a rite of passage to do some binge drinking on your birthday.(but that would happen if you lowered the drinking age to 18 anyway.) |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:25:13 PM EDT
[#42]
Let me guess, you're 19?
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:25:26 PM EDT
[#43]
I agree. Plus you have no idea how much time the military spends (wastes) punishing under aged drinkers. A 19 year old goes overseas, he can drink....come off of deployment now he can't drink, redeploy....you can drink again  . After being able to drink on deployment, how many do you think are really going to stop drinking when they get home? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:25:51 PM EDT
[#44]
21 seems to be a decent compromise to me. I was just dealing with the idea that once it's legal suddenly people start behaving responsibly because the "mystique" is gone.
Acquisition of a driver's license is much more difficult and expensive in Germany than here, is it not? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:26:36 PM EDT
[#45]
i've been looking for some stats on nationmaster.com but havnt been able to find any regarding age group. i knew some aussies that said their country had real serious problems with teens drinking and driving (their drinking age is 18 i believe) |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:27:01 PM EDT
[#46]
Well I'm going to be a dissenter here too.
They should raise it to 40. Dealt with too many drunken fools this week. Ask again next week and maybe my opinion will change. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:27:56 PM EDT
[#47]
Utterly absurd. A 19 year old goes overseas to Souda Bay or Jebel Ali and gets tanked off his ass with his CO buying the drinks for him. The 19 year old comes home from deployment and gets busted drinking in the BEQ and the CO takes his pay and puts him on restriction for 30 days. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:42:32 PM EDT
[#48]
??? We can restrict people's liberties to prevent "problems"? If you're an adult, you should be able to drink. Period. If you can sign a contract, serve on a jury, serve your contry in the military, you should be just as free to sip wine, have a beer, guzzle a 12 pack, or knock back a liter of Everclear as someone who just hit 21. |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:46:03 PM EDT
[#49]
It doesn't matter if one, or many, 18 year olds can "handle" it. Either they're an adult, or they aren't. If they can't "handle" drinking alcohol, then how can we trust them to drive, vote, serve on juries, etc? |
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Posted: 8/14/2007 3:46:51 PM EDT
[#50]
I like your donut metaphor - it reminds me of how threats of gun bans increases sales. Lord knows, I'd have a fraction of the semi-auto rifles I won now, if I wasn't in fear of them not being available some time down the road. |
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