Ha. That's funny. Sure, they 'decided' to enact more restrictive drinking laws--because they'd been BLACKMAILED by the federal government.That's the thing that really ought to P.O. conservatives, the fact that the federales stuck their noses into what is at most a state issue at the behest of a well organized pressure group. How is this bad when it's some liberal group, or the safety nazis, yet OK when it's a right-PC group like the MADD mothers (who ceased to be about drinking and driving, focusing almost solely on the former, years ago)?
This offense was particularly egregious in Ohio. Before the federal blackmail began, Ohio allowed 19 and 20 year olds to buy beer. The religious right and its allies sponsored a referendum in 1983 to raise the beer age to 21. This proposal got absolutely crushed at the polls, by a 2-1 margin.
Thwarted in Ohio, the MADD lobbyists went running to Washington with their blackmail proposal. Unsuprisingly, despite the referendum Ohio's Democratic Senators (Glenn and Metzenbum) voted for it.
Fortunately, we don't have Democratic Senators any more, but we're still living with their handiwork. Conservative principles pretty much demand that decisions about drinking ages (and for that matter BAC limits) be left to the states.
-Eric