Bush Daughters Free To Get Drunk

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by The Pioneer
The drinking age of 21 is ludicrous. They should set it way lower.

So long...

They did. Back in the Vietnam era. The result was soaring DWI fatalities.

The federal government then extorted the several States into raising their drinking age...Congress passed a law stating that States with drinking ages lower than 21 wouldn't get any national highway funds.

[DinoDoc]

Nitpicking

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Congress passed a law stating that States with drinking ages lower than 21 wouldn't get any national highway funds.

They would only loose 5% of thier allotted funds IIRC.

I doubt that even the SCOTUS would have let the law stand ifv they had lost all of thier highway funds.

[Anodyne]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
They did. Back in the Vietnam era. The result was soaring DWI fatalities.

The federal government then extorted the several States into raising their drinking age...Congress passed a law stating that States with drinking ages lower than 21 wouldn't get any national highway funds.

So every state now has the limit of 21? No exceptions?

Damn, I'm sorry for you guys

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Anodyne
So every state now has the limit of 21? No exceptions?

I'm not sure about LA. They may have changed in the 90's but I can not say for sure.

[Dis]

OK folks. There is medical evidence that young adults as well as kids cannot "handle" alcohol as well as adults.

There is enough medical evidence out there to warrant keeping 21 as the age of being able to purchase alcohol.

Of course kids drink anyways- but they are setting themselves up to become alcoholics this way. Granted kids in France drink wine at an early age. But their culture is different.

[MarkG]

Granted kids in France drink wine at an early age. But their culture is different.

so culture keeps you from becoming an alcoholic?

[Dis]

yes culture does do that.

In the U.S. the prevailing culture leans towards binge drinking to have fun. I don't think binge drinking is nearly as popular in countries like France.

Binge drinking is more likely to turn you into an alcoholic than sipping a good wine during or after dinner.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Good, so no more time-wasting stories about the Bush daughters' underage drinking.

Now, let's report on some more relevant news, such as Ben Affleck and J-Lo's upcoming marriage and subsequent divorce, shall we?

[MarkG]

In the U.S. the prevailing culture leans towards binge drinking to have fun.

i'd say it would be better if there was a try to change that culture instead of trying to hide it...

but then again ban(and "bang") is always easier...

[David Floyd]

I think y'all are missing a basic point. If 18 year olds are not being allowed to drink, their rights are being violated. It is also a form of age discrimination.

I don't see any Constitutional justification for Congress or a State telling an adult what they can and cannot do (so long as their action is not hurting anyone). That is just basic ideology for me. However, I think that especially rings true for alcohol. An 18 year old is just as much a legal adult as a 21 year old, yet the 21 year old can drink. We aren't talking about a situation in which the substance is banned altogether - it is simply banned from a certain segment of the adult population.

I simply don't understand how SCOTUS - or any court - would uphold that.

[Kepler]

Alcoholism rates are lower in countries with no formal drinking age. A drinking age puts the underagers into situations where they drink for its own sake -- i.e., to get drunk. Binge drinking thus becomes a more serious problem.

Having said which, states are in fact free to set age limits for lots of different activities. There is nothing carved in stone that says 21 or 18 is an absolute age of majority. Therefore, 18 year olds do not have a constitutional "Right to Drink" any more than 8 year olds do.

[Asher]

The drinking age is 18 in Alberta and there's less DWI per capita here than in most US states.

The problem, I think, was when the US made it 18 in decades ago, a lot of people really took advantage of it more than they should have. Plus, I think people today are a lot more aware of the consequences of drunk driving than they were back then.

The US should lower to 18 as well.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Dissident
OK folks. There is medical evidence that young adults as well as kids cannot "handle" alcohol as well as adults.

There is enough medical evidence out there to warrant keeping 21 as the age of being able to purchase alcohol.

Should we also restrict it to people over 200lbs...we all know that people over 200lbs "handle" alcohol better than people not over 200lbs.

[Anodyne]

Originally posted by Asher
The problem, I think, was when the US made it 18 in decades ago, a lot of people really took advantage of it more than they should have. Plus, I think people today are a lot more aware of the consequences of drunk driving than they were back then.

...or perhaps the US failed with the proper health education on the risks of alcohol while reducing the drinking age?
Those kind of things count surprisingly much...

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by David Floyd
I think y'all are missing a basic point. If 18 year olds are not being allowed to drink, their rights are being violated. It is also a form of age discrimination.

No doubt about it, it's age discrimination. But some kinds of discrimination laws are okay. For example, laws forbidding bank robbing discriminate against bank robbers.

There's no constitutional right to drink. And there's no constitutional prohibition against age discrimination. That's purely a creature of statute. And what the Legislature giveth, the Legislature can taketh away. Which is what happened here.

I don't see any Constitutional justification for Congress or a State telling an adult what they can and cannot do (so long as their action is not hurting anyone).

They were hurting people. The rate for drunk drivers under 21 was much, much higher than for the rest of the adult population. It was just too dangerous to leave the drinking age at 18.