I see lots of comments about “old enough to defend your country”. The problem with this is that there is no draft and a very small percentage of 18 to 21 year olds are in the armed forces. Reinstate the draft, make every 18 year old go into the service for 2 years and then they can all drink at 18!
The next problem is that a significant number of 18 to 21 year olds will not “drink a beer” they will drink way lots of beer then with their immaturity get behind the wheel and drive.
Kids going to college who are not yet 21 manage to drink anyway and do so with gusto. I lived in a college town for many years and can’t recall any underage person getting busted yet there were plenty of parties.
The problem isn’t the drinking age, it is the attitude of some of these colleges that make drinking a sport. Sure not everyone becomes an alcoholic, but go to any campus after hours or on a weekend and look around - I suggest you walk around as driving is ill advised.
Where I live there are significant problems with drunk drivers because the bars are not within walking distance. Increase that risk by adding a whole bunch of immature, drunk drivers and the roads between 11PM and 2 AM will be impossible to drive on. In today’s newspaper there were three arrests for DUI over the last weekend - all three of them were also arrested for underage drinking. There were no arrests for DUI where the driver was over 21 - what does that say for this issue? Ok so they won’t be underage drinkers, but they will still be drunk drivers.
The question isn’t whether they join the military. The question is why do we a setup a set of laws that ALLOWS them to join the military but not drink? How can someone possibly be considered legally mature enough to decide whether or not to lay their life on the line but not old enough to buy a beer?
Having the drinking age 21 doesn’t seem to do anything to reduce binge drinking in the 18 to 21 set. So while that problem certainly exists this is clearly not the solution.
“Ok so they won’t be underage drinkers, but they will still be drunk drivers.”
Some don’t give a crap until it’s them or someone they love sitting in wheelchair for the rest of their life because of a drunk driving teen. There is a reason that car insurance is so expensive for teens and especially boys. Risk management based on stats is why, not because the insurance companies want to pick on young drivers.