The Drinking Age Is Past Its Prime

[Meister]

Really loving all the "small government" being espoused by the conservatives in this thread. Entirely predictable since they don't actually believe in it.

Kinda stupid thing to say. Let's get rid of the seatbelt laws too, sure don't want big government.

Actually, it's a perfectly reasonable hypocrisy to point out and I completely agree. I've always opposed seat belt laws. They don't exist for anyone's safety. They exist to criminalize behavior as a method of extracting more money from people to feed into the government coffers.

So now the Tenth Amendment is suddenly out the window because you happen to agree with this form of big government?

As far as seatbelts go, yes, they do save lives....deny it until the cows come home for all I care.
18 year olds drinking has shown to be a real winner for the reaper.
Sheesh, conservatives are not against government, just excessive goverment. IMO neither of these fit excessive.
Might want to talk to some anarchists, they might be on board with your premises.

 

[manifold]

No, gun control laws have shown no ability to lower crime, not at all. Raising the drinking age did reduce teen traffic fatality. You can argue all day but those are the facts.

Who said anything about crime?

I sure didn't.

Oh OK, sorry. Gun control doesnt reduce deaths.
Feel better, now?

It does though, and that's a fact.

 

[Ropey]

Kinda stupid thing to say. Let's get rid of the seatbelt laws too, sure don't want big government.

Actually, it's a perfectly reasonable hypocrisy to point out and I completely agree. I've always opposed seat belt laws. They don't exist for anyone's safety. They exist to criminalize behavior as a method of extracting more money from people to feed into the government coffers.

So now the Tenth Amendment is suddenly out the window because you happen to agree with this form of big government?

As far as seatbelts go, yes, they do save lives....deny it until the cows come home for all I care.
18 year olds drinking has shown to be a real winner for the reaper.
Sheesh, conservatives are not against government, just excessive goverment. IMO neither of these fit excessive.
Might want to talk to some anarchists, they might be on board with your premises.

They saved my life. The doctor told me that my broken sternum would have been the ribs crushing heart and lungs.

 

[Katzndogz]

Americans are in an protracted adolescence until age 26 and libs want 15 year old binge drinkers. We already have 10 year old alcoholics. Isn't that enough?

 

[OKTexas]

Actually, it's a perfectly reasonable hypocrisy to point out and I completely agree. I've always opposed seat belt laws. They don't exist for anyone's safety. They exist to criminalize behavior as a method of extracting more money from people to feed into the government coffers.

So now the Tenth Amendment is suddenly out the window because you happen to agree with this form of big government?

The states are free to do whatever they want. Federal extortion was found unconstitutional in the ACA ruling.

you are a sore loser, bub

Really, how's that, I simply stated a fact. Facts got no feelings, they just are. Besides, that part of the ruling was a win for the states, they couldn't be required to accept the Medicaid expansion or set up state exchanges.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Americans are in an protracted adolescence until age 26 and libs want 15 year old binge drinkers. We already have 10 year old alcoholics. Isn't that enough?

Some rw's want to give them guns too.

In bars.

A winning combo, for sure.

 

[Meister]

Americans are in an protracted adolescence until age 26 and libs want 15 year old binge drinkers. We already have 10 year old alcoholics. Isn't that enough?

Some rw's want to give them guns too.

In bars.

A winning combo, for sure.

You equate guns to alcohol...really?
That's what your going with?

 

[deltex1]

I am into my 60th year of drinking...my latest pleasure is a Loon Fart...a shot of Chivas, a shot of Kaluha, and a shot of Irish Cream...on the rocks. One is enough...then on to straight Chivas...makes O'Reilly bearable.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Americans are in an protracted adolescence until age 26 and libs want 15 year old binge drinkers. We already have 10 year old alcoholics. Isn't that enough?

Some rw's want to give them guns too.

In bars.

A winning combo, for sure.

You equate guns to alcohol...really?
That's what your going with?

"equate"

Where did I write that?

[MENTION=17949]Meister[/MENTION] - you need a dictionary.

No, never mind. You'd have to actually read it.

 

[rightwinger]

In theory, I agree that 18 is adult and should be able to drink

I was able to legally drink at 18 and I survived. However, several of my friends didn't

 

[Flopper]

I've been making this argument for years. No other western nation has the kinds of restrictions on alcohol that we do, yet we're supposed to be the "freest" country in the world. The paranoia we have over 18 to 20 year olds consuming alcohol is a waste of billions of dollars a year in enforcement that frankly has failed. I don't know a single person who has not illegally consumed alcohol prior to their 21st birthday. Furthermore, the pressure it puts on business owners and people who serve alcohol as part of their job is burdensome and penalties oppressive. People need to take their heads out of their asses and realize that prohibition does not work. Teach responsibility instead. It's worked just fine in the rest of the world.

Camille Paglia: Alcohol Drinking Age of 21 Is Too High - TIME

Lowering the drinking age is a bad idea.

Sure kids under 21 are going to drink, however they can't just stroll into any liquor store or bar and get booze. They have to get phony ids, get others people to buy if for them, or go to places that are lax on checking ids.

There are good reasons why we raised the age to 21. There are too many kids at 18 that are simply not mature enough to drink. If we have a lower drinking age will have more drunks behind the wheel, kids with only a few years experience driving.

We can trace over 5,000 deaths a year to under age drinking. I don't think we want to see that number go up so the beer and liquor industry can increase sales.

 

[The Rabbi]

Who said anything about crime?

I sure didn't.

Oh OK, sorry. Gun control doesnt reduce deaths.
Feel better, now?

It does though, and that's a fact.

No it does not, it has never been shown to reduce deaths. The very opposite.
Your "facts" are simply wrong.

 

[The Rabbi]

I've been making this argument for years. No other western nation has the kinds of restrictions on alcohol that we do, yet we're supposed to be the "freest" country in the world. The paranoia we have over 18 to 20 year olds consuming alcohol is a waste of billions of dollars a year in enforcement that frankly has failed. I don't know a single person who has not illegally consumed alcohol prior to their 21st birthday. Furthermore, the pressure it puts on business owners and people who serve alcohol as part of their job is burdensome and penalties oppressive. People need to take their heads out of their asses and realize that prohibition does not work. Teach responsibility instead. It's worked just fine in the rest of the world.

Camille Paglia: Alcohol Drinking Age of 21 Is Too High - TIME

Lowering the drinking age is a bad idea.

Sure kids under 21 are going to drink, however they can't just stroll into any liquor store or bar and get booze. They have to get phony ids, get others people to buy if for them, or go to places that are lax on checking ids..

There are good reasons why we raised the age to 21. There are too many kids at 18 that are simply not mature enough to drink. If we have a lower drinking age will have more drunks behind the wheel, kids with only a few years experience driving.

We can trace over 5,000 deaths a year to under age drinking. I don't think we want to see that number go up so the beer and liquor industry can increase sales.

Yeah the fatality thing sucks and all but there is the issue of fairness. How do you trust someone to vote if you dont trust them to drink? And vice versa? You trust them with a shotgun or AR-15 rifle but not a beer with mom and dad at dinner.
Besides I hear that fewer teens are getting drivers' licenses these days, most of their friends existing online instead.

 

[Katzndogz]

We can absolutely trust drunk 14 year olds with that rifle. They are just drunk it doesn't mean they are irresponsible.

 

[Zander]

I've been making this argument for years. No other western nation has the kinds of restrictions on alcohol that we do, yet we're supposed to be the "freest" country in the world. The paranoia we have over 18 to 20 year olds consuming alcohol is a waste of billions of dollars a year in enforcement that frankly has failed. I don't know a single person who has not illegally consumed alcohol prior to their 21st birthday. Furthermore, the pressure it puts on business owners and people who serve alcohol as part of their job is burdensome and penalties oppressive. People need to take their heads out of their asses and realize that prohibition does not work. Teach responsibility instead. It's worked just fine in the rest of the world.

Camille Paglia: Alcohol Drinking Age of 21 Is Too High - TIME

Lowering the drinking age is a bad idea.

Sure kids under 21 are going to drink, however they can't just stroll into any liquor store or bar and get booze. They have to get phony ids, get others people to buy if for them, or go to places that are lax on checking ids..

There are good reasons why we raised the age to 21. There are too many kids at 18 that are simply not mature enough to drink. If we have a lower drinking age will have more drunks behind the wheel, kids with only a few years experience driving.

We can trace over 5,000 deaths a year to under age drinking. I don't think we want to see that number go up so the beer and liquor industry can increase sales.

Yeah the fatality thing sucks and all but there is the issue of fairness. How do you trust someone to vote if you dont trust them to drink? And vice versa? You trust them with a shotgun or AR-15 rifle but not a beer with mom and dad at dinner.
Besides I hear that fewer teens are getting drivers' licenses these days, most of their friends existing online instead.

Authoritarians always mask their true intentions (restricting freedom) by appeals to "save the childrens" or "safety"....it's nonsensical. Life is full of risks.

 

[Pheonixops]

If one is old enough to vote and serve in this country's military, I see no reason why they couldn't have the same treatment as any other adult over 21.

 

[Pop23]

Young people mature slower these days because we allow them too.

But, making the government do the parents job for them causes that.

 

[thereisnospoon]

I've been making this argument for years. No other western nation has the kinds of restrictions on alcohol that we do, yet we're supposed to be the "freest" country in the world. The paranoia we have over 18 to 20 year olds consuming alcohol is a waste of billions of dollars a year in enforcement that frankly has failed. I don't know a single person who has not illegally consumed alcohol prior to their 21st birthday. Furthermore, the pressure it puts on business owners and people who serve alcohol as part of their job is burdensome and penalties oppressive. People need to take their heads out of their asses and realize that prohibition does not work. Teach responsibility instead. It's worked just fine in the rest of the world.

Camille Paglia: Alcohol Drinking Age of 21 Is Too High - TIME

While I understand the frustration, there is logic to 21...Yes, the age one becomes an adult is 18. The min age one must be to serve in the armed forces is 17( I think) yes there are professional athletes that are well into their careers that cannot drink. And on and on..
Drunk driving among teens was becoming an epidemic. The idea was to lessen the amount of consumption by high school students.
Another problem was there were states where the legal age was 21 and those where it was 18.
For example. I grew up in a New Jersey(21 yes of age to drink)town that bordered NY State( 18 yrs to drink). Of course the kids went to NY so they could drink. It was the return trips that were problematic. So NJ lowered their drinking age to 18.
The issue was there was easy access to booze. 18 year olds would buy alcohol for their underage friends. Fake ID's were common as then there were no photo's on driver's licenses.
The situation got out of control. So the federal govt decided 21 was the way to go. To compel all states to set their age at 21 and presumably to get around the state's rights clause in the 10th Amendment, the federal govt told the sates that they were free to keep their drinking age at 18 but those states would lose their federal highway funding.
Drunk driving was looked upon as a victimless crime. Until that fateful day in 1980 when a 13 year old girl by the name of Cari Lightner was killed by a 46 year old repeat offender while driving drunk. 5 years later the intensity in which drunk driving laws were enforced became vigorous.
Based on that and large number of other factors, I would say 21 is here to stay.

 

[thereisnospoon]

MADD has fucked all recreational drinking for good. Two beers can be enough to get you a DUI, loss of your license and $10,000 plus in fines and court costs (the states love those bennies).

It's bullshit. You can die on the battlefields of Iraq but can't have a fucking beer.

We really are the most fucked up nation is so many ways.

Well drunk driving enforcement went from being a safety tool to a source of revenue.
I oppose these check points as a means to catch drunk drivers. Often, valuable hours of law enforcement resources are wasted with several officers sitting in the same spot for hours when they could be out on patrol doing the same thing. But as with any popular with the public law enforcement tactics, these check points have the support of just the right number of people. and of course, it's good publicity for law enforcement. "See, look at what we're doing!"....The checkpoints are the police dept's method of going for the low hanging fruit.
What pisses me off is there could be an armed robber stuffing a in a convenience store clerk into the walk in beer cooler at gun point right down the street while the police are asking a guy who has a tail light out to recite the alphabet backwards. THAT'S more important.

 

[Leweman]

19 would make more sense ... keep it out of high schools, at least as much as it is now.