Ozzy Begins Vermont Campaign to Lower the Drinking Age

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Kontiki
I'd definitely support lowering the drinking age to 18 if I were an American. It's 19 in most places here so it's not quite so rediculous (still think it makes more sense at 18, though).

If that was the case, a lot of states wouldn't have raised the drinking age to 21.

Wiscons was 18 until the late 80's. I had a friend that was grandfathered there. He turned 18 then they changed the law to 21.

ACK!

[Atahualpa]

and maybe to give you some advice from my experience as an activist of a relatively unknown/unpopular cause.

Communism?

[Spiffor]

The French Communist Party in my hometown.

I rarely get any negative attitudes that have to do with the horrors of stalinism. I mostly get a patronizing attitude of people saying that my cause is basically lost/dead, while they know next to nothing about what my party is about.

[Theben]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
How are you going to have them compensate for the loss of highway funding?

DUI tickets to all the out-of-staters driving to Vermont to get drunk, then driving home wasted. Of course that will be offset by the increased medical bills of injured/ dead kids littering your highways, and those injured by their driving.

Which is why Wisconsin eventually raised it's drinking age. Too many 18-20 year old Illinoisians and Minnisotans caught DUI/ crashing/ dying.

No support here, at least not for a single state issue. Try a national campaign.

[Flubber]

Drinking seems an odd choice for the fight for youth rights but then again 21 seems really really old to be the drinking age. In my province it was 19 -- since most people go to university at 18, you had an environment where the vast majority of people could legally drink. It never made much sense to me.

More generally Ozzy, do you accept that there should be any age restrictions on such activities as voting and drinking? I think no limit becomes ridiculous since then my two year old could vote if the mood struck him to draw next to one of the candidates name.

There could be negative repercussions from fulfilling a vision of youth rights. Lets say that the voting and drinking age was dropped to say 12 on the argument that these people are fully competent to make their own decisions. Then also might it also follow that

1. Age 12 would be the age when a youth offender should face full responsibility for crimes in adult court including the death penalty

2. Military service could begin at age 12

3. It would be tough to legitimize any stat rape laws that protected anyone over the age of 12 (if they have full "adult" freedoms on every other issue, how could they be denied sexual freedom )

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Theben


DUI tickets to all the out-of-staters driving to Vermont to get drunk, then driving home wasted. Of course that will be offset by the increased medical bills of injured/ dead kids littering your highways, and those injured by their driving.

Which is why Wisconsin eventually raised it's drinking age. Too many 18-20 year old Illinoisians and Minnisotans caught DUI/ crashing/ dying.

No support here, at least not for a single state issue. Try a national campaign.

I believe that Detroit faces a similar issue with people nipping up into Canada to drink. The reality is that most teens will drink to excess either legally or "underage" at some point. I don't think you can stop that but I do think that more can be done on preventing DUI regardless of age.

I know in my social circle people are very conscious of who is driving. Some people might get wasted but their friends know which of the sober ones is doing the driving. I would bet dollars to donuts that my friends would tackle me to the ground rather than let me get behind the wheel drunk

[Spiffor]

Oh, one last advice: be prepared to be disappointed. Lots. You'll find many people who'll be blatantly hotile (youngsters even), probably even more than on this forum. You'll find a great many people who absolutely don't care, and who'll refue your attempts at swaying them. You'll probably find quite a few sympathisers, most of them very superficial ones. And you'll find some people who are extremely enthusiastic. Overall, epect the reaction to your ideas to be worse than on 'Poly.

Don't expect to change the law through this action. Aim at making the population know about youth rights (and thi one in particular), and aim at finding local activists. If you manage this, your campaign would have been a success

[chequita guevara]

I think you'd have been better with lowering the voting age instead. You're gonna go up against MADD now.

[Odin]

Get ready to get death threats from MADD, Ozzy.

[Spiffor]

Well, lowering drinking age is likely to interest more younsters, but to alienate more adults.

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by Spiffor
The French Communist Party in my hometown.

I rarely get any negative attitudes that have to do with the horrors of stalinism. I mostly get a patronizing attitude of people saying that my cause is basically lost/dead, while they know next to nothing about what my party is about.

I'd have replied the same. Anything with "commun" in the name is a lost cause.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Atahualpa


I'd have replied the same. Anything with "commun" in the name is a lost cause.

Only in the US...

[DinoDoc]

Odin: You do realize that you aren't responding to an American, right? Or even someone that lives in the US?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Atahualpa
I'd have replied the same. Anything with "commun" in the name is a lost cause.

Considering that my party remains at in power in my district (broader than my town), and that we saw a progression in our turnout between 2002 and 2004, I'd take opposition to that

[Odin]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Odin: You do realize that you aren't responding to an American, right? Or even someone that lives in the US?

I was trolling about how negitive the words "communist" and "socialist" are perceived in the US as opposed to Europe.