You can go to war when your 18 but you can't drink until your 21

Assuming age is related to maturity is foolish.

 

Spoiler

 

This is so true.

 

I agree but for practical purposes it is far easier to establish an age for the granting of rights and responsibilities under the law. I mean would it be practical if we required competency hearings every time someone wanted to sign a contract, vote, drink and have sex?

I am not sure 18 is the right age but I am not really sure when would be better.

 

19 seems to be the magic number. One year removed from high school and the home setting.

 

Folks, we went through all of this over 40 years ago, and I remember it very well. When the voting age was lowered to 18, a big part of the impetus being 18, 19, and 20 year old Americans being drafted in their millions and sent to Vietnam to war, about 30 states, including Texas, lowered the drinking age to match the voting age. In 1986, the states were essentially blackmailed into raising that drinking age to 21 (some had already raised it to 19 or 20 on their own during the years before '86, and Texas had raised it to 19), or lose 10% of their federal highway funds. Texas was sending more in taxes to the federal government than they were getting back already, so losing 10% was ridiculous, to say the least.

So like I said, been there, done that, and already discussed the hell out of it back then. Your state can lower the drinking age if they wish, but I assume they would still lose those highway funds.

 

I think there are more 18 y/o that think that laws stupid than parents.

 

In a few years IT will be . .. I can go to war but not take a toke until I'm 21??

Rocket River
unless the Mary Jane Age Limit will be lower than Alcohol
which I just don't see happening

 

This is one of those laws that only minors seem to complain about. I don't understand the least common denominator thought process. Its ok to use tobacco, sign contracts and go to war, so we should just add on a right to make further bad decisions?

A lot of us did our heaviest drinking between 15-21. Most of those I ran around with seriously cut back once we hit 21. The law doesn't stop minors from drinking. What it does is keep minors from getting smashed at bars and driving home drunk. And yes, the typical decision making from 18 to 21 to 25 are pretty wide.

 

Military service should be for 30+ when people are fully matured.

 

It's harder to yell at 30 year old men and tell them what to do like they're mindless drones.

 

That's why you do it nicely. Reason with them

 

I personally don't think people should not be able to drink if they don't know the difference between "your" and "you're".

 

Maybe because I live in a military town, but a lot of parents I've known disagree with 18 year olds not being able to drink. Some think that there should be at least an exemption for those in the military.

My dad was a firm believer in 18 being the drinking age. He had no qualms about buying me booze after 18. My mom didn't share his view, but also treated me like an adult regarding it (she wasn't going to buy it, but she didn't disallow me from drinking it).

I plan on taking a similar stance with my kids. Graduating HS will be the big step for me. After that I want them to develop their own responsibility. I won't go stock their liquor cabinets, but I'll buy them a six pack when I visit.

I'm for keeping the age of purchase at 21. Even though we didn't have an overly hard time scoring booze in HS, it probably would have been worse if 18 year olds were able to buy. I think staged drinking laws would be a good idea.

 

It's been a long time since I was a minor and I don't agree with the law. I've seen the statistics about drunken driving and agree that lowering the drinking age will likely lead to an increase in drunken driving that said if we extend that logic though we could theoretically move the drinking age to 25 where insurers have determined there is a big jump in maturity and driving and see an even greater decrease in drinking and driving. I doubt most people would accept that.

As other posters have noted there is no true correlation between age and maturity and 18 and 21 are much more arbitrary determinations that are practical under the law. My own view is that if for most things that have very secure consequences, entering contracts and eligibility for selective service, the age is 18 then the decision to drink legally should also be that age. Of course there will be many who will abuse that but then again there are many people 21 and over who abuse that too. That is a consequence of adulthood that as much as people are free to make sound decisions they also are free to make stupid decisions. For example right now an 18 year old might not be able to drink but they are able to sign up for a credit card with a ridiculous interest rate.

This is an unintended consequence of having such a late drinking age that it might encourage much greater binge drinking among teens. Since drinking among individual in their late teens is illegal means that all of that drinking done in the shadow economy and unregulated. That leads to a situation where it is more economical to binge rather than develop a more responsible attitude regarding the use of alcohol.

 

I want my army sober so they can shoot straight.

 

How about we allow 18-21 year olds to drink, so long as they are enlisted in the military and are on a military base.

 

Just ban war and make everybody enlist in drinking.

 

What about when they aren't working?

 

I think the 21 number is kind of arbitrary
but
I think we had to draw the line in the sand somewhere

We cannot let it be 'at parent's discretion]
cause then drunken 8 yrs old showing up at school

Rocket River