Is the drinking age worth the wait?

[Theben]

Ozzy why did you bold your own quotes?

Personally I think it all should be tied to age. At 16, can drink, drive, fly, own a gun, etc., with 'proper supervision'. At 18 if you've shown the maturity to do these things w/o consequences to yourself and others, then you can do them all w/o supervision. Otherwise wait until 21.

[Kuciwalker]

I think there's no way they can claim thousands of lives saved - my guess is that a good number of the drunk driving deaths (say that three times fast) were moved into the 21+ age group. I have a slight issue with the age being just at 18, because most people turn 18 during high school, so there will be even more spread below the legal age. Rather, make the law either older than 18 or out of high school.

[Theben]

Kids do dumb things. Drunk kids do dumber things.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Theben
Kids do dumb things. Drunk kids do dumber things.

dumb kids do dumb things. drunk dumb kids do dumber things.

Those dumb kids aren't going to be constrained from acting out their stupidity by legislation.


Anyway, 18 years olds aren't 'kids'. They are legal adults, so what dumb things kids do or do not do isn't really relevant to explaining why the law prohibits adults from drinking based on age.

[Ben Kenobi]

I dont understand how American law expects kids to hold out for so long on something that is seen as fun and mature

That is why they expect them to hold out for so long. There are plenty of things that are fun for mature adults, that are not appropriate for children.

[Ben Kenobi]

Those dumb kids aren't going to be constrained from acting out their stupidity by legislation.

No, but not all kids are dumb. The smarter ones will be constrained.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
That is why they expect them to hold out for so long. There are plenty of things that are fun for mature adults, that are not appropriate for children.

18 year olds are not children...

[Ecthy]

BK is a wuss

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


That is why they expect them to hold out for so long. There are plenty of things that are fun for mature adults, that are not appropriate for children.

Are you really saying that 18 year olds isn't allowed to have fun and that they just are children ?

That is pretty funny considering that they are allowed to get married, make legal descisions, vote, join the army and go out killing people or get killed etc.

About th marrying thing - are you claming that they have to wait a few years after amarriage at 18 before beginning on the fun things you can make in a bed ? I guess that it could be called one of the fun stuff mature adults are doing.

Locally rules has been toughend a little regarding driving licences. I don't know the details since i'm a little overage to fall into them, but the rules are something like if you fck up wether it is bad driving, dirty driving or drunk driving, you risk loosing the license the first five years. If I'm not wrong, drunk driving is automatic loss of license.

[Q Classic]

It's kinda funny...

I never drank until I got to college; indeed, my first drink was actually at the end of my first year, when I was 19.

While I was 20, my third year, I frequently drank. A lot.

Once I hit 21... Drinking lost much of its appeal. Sure, I'll have a beer every now and then, but when I drink, it's not to get drunk--it's because it goes great with pizza, for instance, or because it's a damn hot day outside.

*shrugs* Lower it to 18. I realized most of why I drank a lot between 19 and 20 was because for once, I was actually doing something "bad".

[Ben Kenobi]

Are you really saying that 18 year olds isn't allowed to have fun and that they just are children ?

Fun is not the same as drinking, and in fact, I would say that drinking can be the opposite of fun, unless treated carefully.

That is pretty funny considering that they are allowed to get married, make legal descisions, vote, join the army and go out killing people or get killed etc.

But at 16 they are allowed to drive. So why shouldn't 16 year olds be allowed to do all of things things too? Why not set everything to happen at 16?

About th marrying thing - are you claming that they have to wait a few years after amarriage at 18 before beginning on the fun things you can make in a bed ? I guess that it could be called one of the fun stuff mature adults are doing.

My question is whether someone at 18 is ready to take care of a child. If they are, then by all means, they ought to be encouraged to get married at 18. Otherwise, they should wait until they are able to properly enjoy these things.

I don't see many folks who get married at 18, most wait until later. I don't see many folks who would complain if the age were raised to 21.

Same with voting. How many 18 year olds take advantage of their right to vote? I did, but the vast majority did not.

[Asher]

Marriage is about love, Ben, not primarily about raising a child...

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
My question is whether someone at 18 is ready to take care of a child. If they are, then by all means, they ought to be encouraged to get married at 18. Otherwise, they should wait until they are able to properly enjoy these things.

I don't see many folks who get married at 18, most wait until later. I don't see many folks who would complain if the age were raised to 21.

Same with voting. How many 18 year olds take advantage of their right to vote? I did, but the vast majority did not.

Actually, I doubt most people are ready to rear children at 21. I also doubt most people are ready for marriage at that age.

And, indeed, most people under 21 are ignorant about the issues involved in voting.

But then again... a good fraction of people above 21 don't seem ready to marry, or raise children, and a good lot of them are also ignorant about political issues.

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Asher
Marriage is about love, Ben, not primarily about raising a child...

Marriage is a joke, Asher. It has nothing to do with love, and everything to do with how much you have to pay to the legal firm of "That's mine, this is yours".

[Dr Strangelove]

Actually I don't think that religion had much to do with the national drinking age. It was the efficacy of the campaign staged by M.A.D.D. that ensured the passage of the Federal sponsorship for raising the legal drinking age.