Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.Before I turned 21 (actually high school and onward) I was drinking.
I'm actually proud to say that this stupid law had no effect on me, and I have always said its a dumb law, and have not only encouraged others to disregard it, but to also disrespect it.
I think 18 year old is should be the drinking age, and yes, I have helped, and assisted, many kids under 21 get alcohol, and I have and will do it again.
Change the law, keep it, its a joke anyway.
I'm 19..never had a drink in my life (besides religious reasons).
I guess some pay attention to the law :)
Never has a pol explained to me why they trust my 19 year old nephew to defend our country in Iraq, but not to enjoy a cold beer when he returns home.
If my 18-year-old soldiers can stop a bullet, legally, why can't they hoist a cold one, legally?
Many post commanders authorize troops age 18-21 to enjoy beer on post. And the 12-hour rule is strctly enforced. The "Beer-Only" rule is a good thing.
Sonny M, same with me, I was sitting up to the bar at 16, I can not tell you all how much I regret that, it started that young and lasted 30 years... I did not do well by drinking
Um, Mr Marron, send your 18 year old out to rent a car anywhere and call me with the results. That’s one example.
-PJ
Grew up when most states were 18. This is another one of those issues like raising the speed limit over 55. The libs predicted carnage on the road, fact is highway deaths went down. How can we trust someone with the vote and not a Budwieser.
When I was in college we were still allowed to drink, that was before the federal government took over the drinking laws through the back door of collecting TOO MUCH IN TAX and then offering to pay it back only if the states did what the federal government wanted them to do.
The fact is that the law is virtually ignored. Having laws which are ignored and uninforced teaches people to pick and chose which laws they will obey.
In this case that was the intention. Nobody really expected to stop 18-year-olds from drinking. They wanted to stop 16-year-olds. The reasoning is that a lot of 16-year-olds hang out with 18-year-olds, and could get beer from them, but you don't have a lot of 21-year-olds going to teen parties. The 18-year-olds in college would have older friends who could get them beer.
Having laws that we expect people to break, and that we enforce only rarely, is a bad thing.
This post is not intended to suggest support or opposition of drinking laws in general (I have a firm position which I'm not stating). I'm just saying that if you have a law enforce it, and you shouldn't prohibit ONE thing if you really wanted to prohibit something else.
It would have been difficult for a person to drink more than I did when I was 18. Of course the law should be changed.
Young kids really don't like the stuff, and would be much more likely to grow into gradually. My own kids (both over 21) are good examples. They could both have whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it at home. Mostly except for wine for one of them (which resulted from her being served wine all over Europe when she was 14) neither of them took advantage at all until they were more than 16. Did they ever overdo it? Sure, but they we smart enough to call ME to come get them.
And it's insane that kids at college cannot drink without breaking a law.
ML/NJ
I recall reading on FR a long time ago, probably in 2000 at the time of the last-minute revelation of George W. Bush's DUI in 1976, that something like 84 members of Congress had been stopped for drunk driving in the previous two years (of course none of them were penalized--Congressional immunity). There is a bit of hypocrisy involved.
All they'll lose is 9.7 million, hell they could make that back on a 1 cent tax extra on every six pack sold.
States across the country raised the drinking age to 21 after the 1984 National Drinking Age Act tied that requirement to a percentage of federal highway money given to states.
This and many other laws like it are nothing short of "BLACKMAIL" by the federal government. The States have rights, but only if they want to get back the money that is paid out of there state in taxes. So in effect the federal government is blackmailing the state out of its rights. This should not be legal. The federal goverment should have no power to do this. And as a method of retaliation...I would suggest that the states pass a law that takes possesion of said "Lost federal funds" directly from the payrolls of it citizens. Or how about scooping up the money made by federal taxes on Gas.
Interesting, you know I always found it funny, when I was 14-16, it was much easier to go find some weed instead of alcohol... Maybe that lead me to take a different path at that age.
At least if kids start drinking underage at the age of 16 because their high school senior buddies buy, their PARENTS will be the ones to do the punishing, not government. Government punishments when it comes to stuff like this are always hamhanded and silly (think zero-tolerance laws).
This may be the only thing Vermont's government could do right. It would be great to see at least one state doing the right thing on principle. And NH would probably soon follow suit--it could be a great rallying point for the Free Staters there!
I think this is great.
We should, on the same day, lower the drinking age to 18 and raise the driving age to 21.
Vermont should just make their law like the one in Wisconsin. The drinking age in Wisconsin is 21 (in order to receive the Federal highway bribes) but there are exceptions: minors may consume alcoholic beverages while accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or spouse who is of legal age. Establishments still have the right to refuse to serve minors, but few exercise the right.
When you become 21, the supply becomes basically unlimted(you can pretty much buy all you want, without criminal threats hanging above you, unlike when you are 19 or 20). From my own experience, at 21, I cut way down on any binge episodes.
Haven't been carded since I turned 16. Take a guess as to when I started hanging out in bars.
Mods please change title. It should be:
Vermouth Considers Lowering Drinking Age to 18
I assumed it was alot more...A state could easily make that money up in increased tuition fees from all the out of state students who would flock to their Universities....stupid law anyway.
18 with military ID at least.
It was 18 for beer when I was a lad....1975.
The tax money they collect from increased sales of beer to 18-21 year olds will more than make up for the $9.7 million.
However I think that an influx of 18 & 19 year olds into pubs and nightclubs is an entire set of other problems. Just because the 18 year old Marine is mature and responsible enough to enjoy a beer doesn't mean that average 18 year old is the same.
Perhaps we can come up with a compromise...incremental steps ala today's interim driver's licenses.
I really don't see where in the Constitution it says the federal government is supposed to be setting drinking ages, or "presumed drunk" BAC limits. Or seat belt/helmet laws.
-Eric
I can sympathize with the argument that if you can fight a war at 18, you should be allowed to have a drink.
But Mr. McCardell's argument I don't understand at all. It's just a shell game. If we lower the drinking age to 18, by this logic, it should lead to binge drinking by teenagers 13-17. So we should lower it to 13. But then this should, in theory, lead to binge-drinking by middle and elementary school age kids, and so on until even abortion rights activists begin lobbying for the right of pregnant women to inject a Bud Light directly into their wombs.
I think the solution is to lower the drinking age to 18 for members of the military ONLY. They've earned that right and compared to most 18 to 20 year olds, they're less likely to abuse it.
In places where there is no "drinking age", or it is 12 or 14 they do not have the driving carnage caused by young drivers unfamiliar with drinking that we do. So we should be wise and eliminate the drinking age. Or make it lower. Say 12 for beer and wine. And 16 for distilled spirits.
Raise the driving age in suburban and urban counties to 21. Permit younger drivers daylight only.
Let people learn to drink well before they drive.
I disregarded this law last weekend, and I might be disregarding it again tonight. And I don't feel one ounce of guilt doing it. It's an absolute outrage that I can vote for our government, be drafted into the military and die for this country, but I can't get a beer before I get shipped off. We have chosen an age when we as a society feel that a person has matured enough to be considered an adult. That age is 18. Either you have all the rights and responsibilities at that age, or none at all. That is the only fair way for this country to work.
I don't think this is a bad idea.
The insurance industry will pitch a coniption fit if this gets rolled back. They were the primary reason it was changed to 21 - to prevent immature drivers driving drunk.
We tried that in Texas and it was a disaster!
Nothing like Southern Comfort or Jack Daniels Old Fashioneds to wean a kid off Mom's Diner.
Truer words were never spoken.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.""The 21-year-old drinking age is bad social policy and terrible law," Mr. McCardell wrote, saying it had led to binge drinking by teenagers. "Our latter-day prohibitionists have driven drinking behind closed doors and underground.""
So we now let the inmates run the prison? Just because everyone is breaking the law means that we need to get rid of the law? Let's do away with murder since no one can seem to follow that one either.
There is an easy way arounsd that keep all the money you collect and dont send one single penny to D.C. after you lower the drinknig ag e to 18 when the federal whores come around with thier hand out tell them to get bent.
I really hate to say this but this is one situation where
the federal goverment should mandate the law (as stabbing
hypocrisy pains shoot through my body).
I grew up in Philadelphia where the drinking age has
always been 21 and across the river in
New jersey it was 18 .
It doesnt take a genius to figure out that one of our
favorite passtimes was to drive to the next state and get
hammered.
Somebody wake me when they want to lower the age to purchase a handgun to 18.
Jeff's got a new tagline.
The law's a joke anyway. I drink less now than I did at 18-19-20.
18 years old to drink is fine with me. I support the idea of allowing those who defend our freedoms to enjoy our freedoms.
hey i agree and i have too done the same thing so there is nothing wrong with that and they should lower the age i have signed every petition out on the web to lower the age and will continue to do so until they lower it.