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Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,763,471 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hatless Wonder
Parade had an article about the drinking age this week. It makes some pretty good arguments for lowering the drinking age to 18.
I was tending bar at 18, but I've never wanted to drink. It's a taste I never acquired. I didn't want to drink at 18 or at 21. My college friends were hard drinkers, but they never pressured me to drink.
Since Americans become adults at 18, all adult priveleges should be given then, including driving (make learner's permits available at 16) and drinking. If a girl can marry and buy a house at 18, she should be able to have some champagne at her wedding reception. If a boy can die for his country at 18, he should be able to have a beer at a bar.
What do you think?
When you are 18, you are still a teenager and teenagers are NOT mature enough to do anything risky. I remember when it was 18 and it was raised to 21 for good reasons. As for adult privledges, there are some you do not get until you are 25. Do you want to drive a big truck? Not till you are 25!
Now, my own opinion is this- I agree with you that those in the military should be able to enjoy a drink because people in the military are much more MATURE for the most part than college students and such. So I think the law should be changed to allow people with a military ID drink at age 18. No problem with that. I could also support lowering the age for beer and wine that has 3.2% or less alcohol content to 19 for everybody. But I do not think 18 year olds- especially males who are far more immature than females at that age- should be allowed to buy hard stuff.
The thing is that countries with a lower drinking age have stricter laws, *that are upheld*, related to driving under the influence, etc.
True. In Northern Europe, there are two other factors in play: Getting a drivers' license is a serious investment of time and money - as in, dozens of lessons with an accredited instructor (including night driving, freeway driving, simulated winter conditions etc.) and a test that people actually fail. Losing your license is a huge blow.
The second factor is the (successfully engineered by the respective governments) stigma attached to drunk driving. It is considered boorish, irresponsible, classless behavior, as is letting it happen. ("You were there? You didn't stop him??")
Also the fines are huge and linked to your income.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay F
I have heard that in countries like France and Italy it's not uncommon for chidren to drink a glass of wine at the dinner table. They have less chronic alcoholism and binge drinking that the U.S does.
True - even a Scandihooligan like me had wine at 12. (I was around 15 when my stepfather first brought me a cold beer after mowing the lawn on a hot day. Alcohol without a meal, remarkable.)
In all fairness, there's a cultural difference. I haven't spent that much time in Italy, but in France, being drunk in public is - well, not done. Poor form. It's a bit like French food - traditional French cooking has unsaturated fat and cholesterol galore, but the French simply stop eating earlier. And the French will have their glass of wine with lunch, but I've seen people leaving 1/3rd of a bottle behind in restaurants - they had their fill, that was it.
While I do think the drinking age should be lowered, I also think that the National Minimum Drinking Age Act should be abolished and states should be free to set their own drinking ages.
I think there should be no drinking age. It's the parent's responsibility to raise their child to do the responsible thing. Having 1/2 a wine or beer at family dinners isn't that big a deal even for a 12 year old. I was totally drinking hard liquor when I was 4... tiny sips of it, but who cares? I'm not gonna go out and become a drunk. To me alcohol isn't really "cool" because it wasn't a forbidden fruit.
I agree. There should be no drinking age limit at all.
While I do think the drinking age should be lowered, I also think that the National Minimum Drinking Age Act should be abolished and states should be free to set their own drinking ages.
I think we had that in place except the feds threatened the states that did not comply. Louisiana finally raised theirs to 21 when the gov't said they wouldn't fund state highways.
Last edited by Guamanians; 09-26-2010 at 04:20 PM..
Reason: typo
I think we had that in place except the feds threatened the states that did not comply. Louisiana finally raised theirs to 21 when the gov't said they wouldn't fund state highways.
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act gave the feds the power to withhold funds from states that did not have a drinking age of 21 or did not enact a drinking age of 21.
In South Dakota v. Dole, one of my least favorite Supreme Court decisions of the second half of the twentieth century, the SCOTUS claimed the law was constitutional. Sandra Day O'Connor thought differently, and in her dissent said the NMDA was a violation of state's rights. Unfortunately, most of the justices disagreed.
If the NMDA is repealed than obviously South Dakota v. Dole goes with it.
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