You can die for your country at 18, but can't have a beer?

Question

Should the drinking age be lowered to 18?
If yes, why?
If no, why not?

...at 18 you're an idiot? so you want an idiot out fighting a war? Don't think so.

Really, NOBODY *needs* alchohol but if you can live on your own, vote in an election, and go to war I think you should at least have the choice.

Answer 1

I agree with you.

Answer 2

Obviously this can be a very controversial issue. On the one hand, those 18 year-olds who join the service can fight/die for our country, but they can't drink legally - this sounds absurd. But those in the service grow up FAST during boot camp and subsequent training, so you could argue that those 18 year-olds not in the service are too immature to drink responsibly, or at least that those in the armed forces have a maturity advantage.

But I'm not sure the problem is really whether 18 year-olds should be allowed to drink. You can be immature at any age. There are a lot of folks over 21 that demonstrate time and again that they can't drink alcohol responsibly. The problem may actually reside in how individuals are raised and socialized - I know some 16 year-olds that are "old enough" to drink responsibly. But you have to draw the line somewhere. And I suspect that drinking and driving are the real concerns with 18 to 20 year-olds.

Personally, I am for lowering the age to 18. But I'm also for the idea of teaching our young people to drink responsibly and increasing social pressure towards better education and the ideal of drinking in moderation. I'm in New York state where the legal age for purchasing alcohol and tobacco is 21 and you can vote at 18. For consistency, I favor making 18 the official age for drinking and smoking, even though we know smoking is bad for you. But this would still be inconsistent with NY laws that say parents are still responsible for your food, clothing, and shelter until 21 - note however that at 18, parents are no longer responsible for your debts. So go figure!

Insurance companies don't like under 21 drinkers because of the driving risk. So economics plays a big role rather than any ideal about being able to die for your country but not able to drink legally.

So, do you want idealistic consistency, or pragmantic solutions? It's all quite a mess politically. But don't forget that most politicians can legally drink, ... and,... once they are a politician, they rarely pick up a gun to go fight for their country.

Answer 3

Actually, you can. Join the army, they have bars on base and, if inlisted, you can legaly drink there if you are 18 (providing that you are not still in basic, as that would be against the roles). Once you graduate from basic training you will be aloud to roam slightly freely along the base and you CAN go to the bar on base and drink at age 18.

If you are not willing to make the sacrafice to join the army, then you have to wait until your 21 to drink. Simple as that. You can't say, "Oh, that guy joined the army at age 18, I should be able to drink!" You can't get something for nothing. You have to earn it. Life isn't fair, and you can't get by forever on handouts.

And come on, seriously, you really think that people still in high school should be aloud to drink alcohol? Focus on your future, a lot more than you think hinges on graduating high school.

-edit-

I'm sure your the most responsible 18 year old on the planet, I'm not going to argue that. But think about other 18 year olds, people from school who you know to be immature and not responsible. Do you really want folks like that to be able to drink?

for every responsible 18 year old there are a thousand 18 year olds that would not be able to make wise choices regarding alcohol. Heck, there is a lot of adults who make unwise choices regarding alcohol.

I have no doubt you will use caution while drinking, but are you sure that other members of your age group will do the same? Looking back at my highschool days and I know I'd be scared to death if these people I went to school with where aloud to drink.

Looking back I understand why the age limit is what it is. When I was 18 I said the same thing, "Why can't I drink?" But now that I'm older I understand, and you will too.

Answer 4

Funny thing is, I'm 58 now but growing up in Western New York State, you could drink at 18 but you had to be 21 to vote. Now it's just the other way around. I think that the drinking age should be 19 to keep it out of the High Schools.

Answer 5

Ya.....and you can be 16, married and have a kid and can't have one either. Or vote for that matter. You can drive a car and get killed before you ever had your first drink. Life's just not fair. But you have to draw a line somewhere. Maturity and responsibility unfortunatly don't have a guarenteed age completion point. It's not that no liquor has ever crossed the lips of someone under 18.....it's just not encouraged by being made legal.

Answer 6

like so much of life it works even if it doesn't make sense. at 18 you are old enough to join the military, vote, hold any job you want, get a loan, and lots of other stuff you couldn't do at 17. however bad experence has taught us that at 18 you may have trouble with booze. so we now have 21 as the legal drinking age. seems odd i know but that's the way life often is.

Answer 7

Yes, this is a troubled subject is'nt it. The reason the age limits increase is due to traffic accidents. They actually lowered when making access to alcohol to those under 18 prohibited. When a man joins the military, your D**n right he deserves a beer!

Answer 8

that was the argument used during the viet nam war. and the drinking age was lowered to 18. there were probably more kids killed in drunk driving than in the war so it was raised back up

Answer 9

Because 18 year olds are idiots, they don't need beer too. But being an idiot works out pretty well when you hand them a gun and point them towards the bad guys.

Answer 10

It's gonna stay 21 and it's gonna get less that.o8 and legaly drunk ur gonna hve to deal with it.

If u want a beer get 1, you don't always need to get drunk to injoy a good beer that's why it'll stay at 21 and never go down to 18

Answer 11

you know this is a selfish question if you ask me. you want to get drunk and drink with your buddies so your using an analogy like that to make yourself look good. your not dead you can wait you have much to do at 18 vote pay bills get the heck out of your parents house drive a vehicle not drunk of course hey why dont we make the drinking age 18 and hand out drivers licences at 12 and rule out school.... yeah ok ever here of structure. have a good day thanks for the vent.