Bad idea. I lived in Wisconsin when the drinking age there was 18, and I have never seen a larger concentration of future alcoholics in my life. I have often said that I never realized I had a drinking problem until I moved away from Wisconsin!

Again, BAD IDEA!

/has a deep hatred of all things alcohol, so maybe I'm biased...

Good idea but stupid for only doing it for people in the military. If they are going by the reasoning that if you are mature enough to make a decision to fight for your country you are mature enough to have a drink, shouldn't they logically conclude that you are mature enough even if you choose not to? Seems like they are saying everyone with good judgement at 18 will join the military.

Raise the age to smoke to 21.

Since the 21 drinking age worked so well, it should be raised to 25. Prohibition has a track record of being an excellent success wherever it is applied.

/College professor. The 21 limit does more damage than good. How about between 19 and 21, you can drink beer and wine only, and only in a licensed bar - no carry out.

What could possibly go wrong?

Maybe people will see that kids that are old enough to be sent to their deaths in a place most of them can't even find on a map are old enough to have a few beers.

lajimi
What could possibly go wrong?

Maybe people will see that kids that are old enough to be sent to their deaths in a place most of them can't even find on a map are old enough to have a few beers.

That's a stupid arguement, especially considering that military service is 100 percent voluntary.

As long as they up the driving age to 21 that's cool with me.

zappaisfrank: That's a stupid arguement, especially considering that military service is 100 percent voluntary

You farked up your life and you have filled a half a dozen threads up already today with stupidity. Shut up dummy.

R.A.Danny
zappaisfrank: That's a stupid arguement, especially considering that military service is 100 percent voluntary

You farked up your life and you have filled a half a dozen threads up already today with stupidity. Shut up dummy.

My life is fine, thank you. Now, either refute what I said with a logical counter arguement or kindly blow it out your ass!

zappaisfrank: My life is fine, thank you. Now, either refute what I said with a logical counter arguement or kindly blow it out your ass!

You are an idiot and have proven it in every thread you have been in is proof enough. I stand behind my statement.

They should lower the drinking age, and raise the driving age, that way, by the time they can drive they know how alcohol affects them.. instead of driving the first time they're allowed to get drunk(legally).

Bad idea. The only places that can handle an 18 year old drinking age are those whose youth doesn't automatically associate it with out of control binge drinking. In other words, not America.

R.A.Danny
zappaisfrank: My life is fine, thank you. Now, either refute what I said with a logical counter arguement or kindly blow it out your ass!

You are an idiot and have proven it in every thread you have been in is proof enough. I stand behind my statement.

Whatever, cowboy...your "statement" directly above shows your limited grammar skills, so I guess I don't need to go any further. Your refusal, or inability, to launch an effective counterpoint to my statement, or any of the other threads you claim I've farked up, speaks volumes.

R.A. Danny

Almost forgot...

I am entertained by the notion that anyone thinks underage drinking can be stopped.

My guess is that they will lose their Federal highway funding (i.e. the reason states like Wisconsin ultimately raised their age to 21 in the first place)

If they do change it, it will probably play a lot like the the Democratic primaries:


Feds: If you lower your drinking age to 18, we will cut off your Federal highway funding.

State: We are going to change our drinking age to 18.

Feds: Ok, but you're going to lose that money. Really.

(State lowers age.)

Feds: You were warned, and you ignored us. Now you've lost your highway money from us.

State: But we NEED that money! It's not fair! Waah!

zappaisfrank: Whatever, cowboy...your "statement" directly above shows your limited grammar skills, so I guess I don't need to go any further.

If you're going to lecture someone on grammar, you should probably spell argument correctly instead of misspelling numerous times.

/just sayin'

SleepyMcGee

Doh!

/even spelled incorrectly, my post made more sense that his.

Raise it to 30.

zappaisfrank: That's a stupid arguement, especially considering that military service is 100 percent voluntary.

So is having a few beers.

"What could possibly go wrong?"

Police stop taking in as many of those lucrative underage drinking fines, that's really about it.

zappaisfrank: That's a stupid arguement argument, especially considering that military service is 100 percent voluntary.

I don't see how a voluntary military refutes his point. 18 year olds can do lots of things, are considered adults by many metrics, and yet still cannot legally drink.

Also, a deep hatred an alcohol does bias your opinion - something that wouldn't really bother me, but then you touted yourself as the paragon of reason. And your experience in Wisconsin just wreaks of confirmation bias, doesn't it?

Bad idea. I say raise the age for everything else back to 21, including voting, marriages, joining the military, drinking, and signing contracts.

Otherwise we'll have a bunch more Czarangeluses running around, except they'll be drunk.

/Czarangeli?

Lower it to 18.
Stupid that it was ever held hostage by federal highway funds in the first place...

Get rid of the goddamnned nanny state and make people take responsibility for their own decisions.

Loss of revenue?
Seriously, the "kids" are drinking anyway. You just scared a bunch of older people into filling the police coffers.

Using alcohol as a bribe to get people to join the military is sick. Either change it for everyone, or change it for no one.

zappaisfrank: Bad idea. I lived in Wisconsin when the drinking age there was 18, and I have never seen a larger concentration of future alcoholics in my life. I have often said that I never realized I had a drinking problem until I moved away from Wisconsin!

I think it has an effect on it. I mean, honestly...what do you do when you're 18 and you want to drink? You hide it because it's illegal. Teens drink, it's a fact of life, and they are often drinking in dangerous, unsafe places. In rural areas, like where I live, there have been deaths because of alcohol poisoning in backwoods drinking spots.

When younger drinking is allowed, there can at least be some drinking done in areas where someone can keep an eye open, or at least the ambulances can reach. I think a Farker earlier said that drink in bars from 18-21, but no carry out of a liquor store. This makes sense to me.

What could possibly go wrong?

They'd probably have to develop a culture where responsible drinking is a normal part of life. Like most of the world.

But then teenagers will drink! The horror!

I became an alcoholic at an early age due to the drinking age being 18, and I fully support the right of other addictive personalities to become drunks at an early age.

/If you're going to fark up your life, might as well do it early. You might have a chance to straighten it out later.
//Like young alcoholics will be stopped by it being illegal.

State: 'we're lowering the drinking age to 18.'

Federal government: 'Don't do it or you'll be sorry.'

State: 'i'm a big boy, I can make decisions on my own'

Fedgov: 'fine. But i'm cutting your budget.'

State: 'but...if you cut my spending to punish me for acting in the best interests of my voters, i'm not really free. The Confederates will be proven correct and the entire civil war was fought in vain!'

Fedgov: 'keep it up and i'll cut MORE funding.'

State: 'Can I weep quietly in the corner?'

Fegov: 'well...keep the noise down. I'm earmarking pork barrel projects to keep getting Senators re-elected at the expense of the taxpayers.'

anal brazil men

My bias against alcohol comes from the number of people who used to be friends of mine who now occupy small plots of real estate with six feet of earth over their faces. The sad part is, most of them are there because of someone else's neglegence and stupidity and not by their own choices. Perhaps my emotional response to these situations does tend to make me take a hardline stance on the topic. I will try and tame that for discussion purposes.

The reason I feel the "you can fight and die but can't drink at 18" is an ineffective argument is because there presently is no military draft. Military service is purely voluntary. If it were not and young men were being sent to die against their own will then I could see where that would have a little more "teeth", for lack of a better term.

lower the drinking age to 18 = WIN = i can haz mor sex

There are few things that emphatically show how ridiculous this country is more than the 21 year old drinking age.

There are people here who think that getting older means getting smarter. They're wrong!

Weaver95: State: 'we're lowering the drinking age to 18.'

Federal government: 'Don't do it or you'll be sorry.'

State: 'i'm a big boy, I can make decisions on my own'

Fedgov: 'fine. But i'm cutting your budget.'

State: 'but...if you cut my spending to punish me for acting in the best interests of my voters, i'm not really free. The Confederates will be proven correct and the entire civil war was fought in vain!'

Fedgov: 'keep it up and i'll cut MORE funding.'

State: 'Can I weep quietly in the corner?'

Fegov: 'well...keep the noise down. I'm earmarking pork barrel projects to keep getting Senators re-elected at the expense of the taxpayers.'

I think it has a lot to do with the feds making moral decisions that apply to the states. Actually, in this case, it's just strongarming. But it's "for the children", so nobody makes a fuss about it.

The states have every right to set their own drinking age, but watch for congress and MADD to throw a Los Angeles class conniption fit if this actually goes anywhere.

Hell, the states only started raising their drinking ages because the federal govt. was going to withhold highway funding if they didn't.

JabbaTheButt

Get rid of the goddamnned nanny state and make people take responsibility for their own decisions.

Problem is, these decisions don't effect just the person drinking. It effects everyone, especially when they climb behind the wheel of an automobile in a less-than-sober state of mind. You'd feel differently if someone close to you were snuffed out by an underage drinking driver.

I see no connection between the drinking age and military service. If you want to lower the drinking age to 18, fine, do it for all, or don't do it for all. Whatever way you choose.

If you insist on making a connection between military service, maturity, and the drinking age: I say that we lower it to 18 except if you are in the military. With how the soldiers are being used as pawns by the ruling class, I say volunteering does not show maturity and judgement.

No, I'm not being a troll, but if someone wants to link military service to a drinking age, I say let's follow it to the logical conclusion.

zappaisfrank: The reason I feel the "you can fight and die but can't drink at 18" is an ineffective argument is because there presently is no military draft. Military service is purely voluntary. If it were not and young men were being sent to die against their own will then I could see where that would have a little more "teeth", for lack of a better term.

So....in your world, someone is old enough to voluntarily enlist and put their lives at risk but at the same time they're too immature and irresponsible to be trusted with a 6 pack on friday night? At the same time, you're saying that if we forced kids into military service, then they should be given beer as a consolation prize?

zappaisfrank
Taking your logic into account, I'm gonna fix it for you:

he reason I feel the "you can fight and die but can't drink at 18" is an ineffective argument is because there presently is no military draft. Military service is purely voluntary. If it were not and young men older children were being sent to die against their own will then I could see where that would have a little more "teeth", for lack of a better term.

Personally, I think the "age of majority" (voting/drinking/military service/gambling age) should be moved to 21 at the very minimum. Period.

Make it farking consistent. If you are old enough to vote for your elected representatives in government and old enough to serve in the military, then you should, by default, be old enough to drink alcohol and engage in gambling.

Doesn't make sense that we can trust in 18 year old with an M16 or a grenade launcher, but not with a bottle of beer. Utter stupidity.

/my newsletter is available for subscription.
//call in the next 20 minutes and you can receive a football phone.

So, by 18 you can have sex, drive a car, vote, get married, own a gun, join the army blah blah blah, but you're not trusted to handle beer until you're 21?

/16 for beer here
//18 for weed and liquor

Sounds good to me. I'd love to pick me up a young dumb drunk girl for some fun.

NickelP
Good idea but stupid for only doing it for people in the military. If they are going by the reasoning that if you are mature enough to make a decision to fight for your country you are mature enough to have a drink, shouldn't they logically conclude that you are mature enough even if you choose not to? Seems like they are saying everyone with good judgement at 18 will join the military.

I was all for the "18 and in the Military" drinking until I read your post. Now I agree with you 100%. Never thought of it like that.

Drunk drivers come in all shapes and sizes. To blame it all on 18-21 year olds is wrong. There should be zero-tolerance for it at any age.

zappaisfrank: Problem is, these decisions don't effect just the person drinking. It effects everyone, especially when they climb behind the wheel of an automobile in a less-than-sober state of mind. You'd feel differently if someone close to you were snuffed out by an underage drinking driver.

Why do people like you always equate legal drinking at a certain age with an increase in drinking and driving?

If you are an adult, you should have ALL the liabilities, responsibilities, AND privileges that go with adulthood. None of this half-assed stuff.

This is the biggest joke of all on collage campuses. About 1/3 of the undergrads can legally drink, 2/3 can't, hmmm, wonder what's going to happen there!

IIRC drunk driving deaths plummeted in states when the age was raised to 21. Mixing youthful indiscretion and booze not only gets the kids killed but it takes out innocents along with them.

when i was under 21 and in the air force i always used my military id when carded. it worked more often than not. but, it mightve been because the card was confusing and my birthdate wasnt on the front of it.

also, if anyone needs help with their aces ii ejection seats, i have off thursday evenings.