Lowering the drinking age

[Jenos Ridan]

18 is a good age. Old enough to go to college. Old enough to vote. Old enough to drink, but also, I would say, a good driving age. So 18 for voting, driving, drinking, and drafting.

Aside from the fact I'd alreadly said this, here here. Assign one age to all adult activities. 18 to 21 is good, I prefer 18 as a matter of pragmatism.

[Anarchist]

18 is a good age. Old enough to go to college. Old enough to vote. Old enough to drink, but also, I would say, a good driving age. So 18 for voting, driving, drinking, and drafting.

If there HAS to be a age limit id say 18, unfortunately on driving(though i understand why) it would demand that better transportation services be provided. ever been a 16 year old out in the middle of nowhere?

[Jenos Ridan]

18 is a good age. Old enough to go to college. Old enough to vote. Old enough to drink, but also, I would say, a good driving age. So 18 for voting, driving, drinking, and drafting.

If there HAS to be a age limit id say 18, unfortunately on driving(though i understand why) it would demand that better transportation services be provided. ever been a 16 year old out in the middle of nowhere?

In my case, you'd be peaching to the choir .

[The_Devil]

I say 10 to drive...(really safe cars with automated correcting systems)
drinking is already 18 in canada...i think
If you are sick in Canada, you can have weed...but only if you are sick...i don't know why...

[Whiteberry]

shit in places in new york you have to be 20 to buy cigarettes but yes if you can go die for your country involuntarily you should get all the rights afforded to any adult

Last time I checked the military was voluntary. Did the U.S. government start up the draft and I missed it?

[vtmarik]

I say 10 to drive...(really safe cars with automated correcting systems)
drinking is already 18 in canada...i think
If you are sick in Canada, you can have weed...but only if you are sick...i don't know why...

There shouldn't be a restriction on when you can drive, considering that you have to take both a written and driving test to get your license in the US.

If you're 12 and can pass the tests, why can't you drive?

[safariguy5]

Well, if you are 12, you are gonna have a hard time seeing over a hummer's dashboard.

As to the drinking age, lower it because it is impossible to enforce it at 21 as of now anyways. Too many people break the law intentionally. There are more important things for the police to do than to set up sting operations to find out which stores sell alcohol to minors.

[luns101]

I firmly believe people should be allowed to vote from 16 years old. At this age people are mature enough to know their own mind (in law).

I couldn't disagree with you more on this one, flashleg. I really don't want the fate of the US being decided by those whose main concerns in life are 'who got voted off of American Idol last night?' and 'did you hear what so-and-so said about so-and-so?'.

[Jenos Ridan]

I firmly believe people should be allowed to vote from 16 years old. At this age people are mature enough to know their own mind (in law).

I couldn't disagree with you more on this one, flashleg. I really don't want the fate of the US being decided by those whose main concerns in life are 'who got voted off of American Idol last night?' and 'did you hear what so-and-so said about so-and-so?'.

My sentiments exactlly. Although I don't recall EVER caring about that crap, I still don't think I was ready for such responcibility at that age. And seeing how screwed up both other countries are AND the US, I repeat, it is a bad idea.

[Gustaf Wasa]

The age limit should be 21, but all the ideas about strict laws, surveillance, and the like, are just a way to patch what is broken, and continues to be broken. You need strict laws to a degree, but more than that you need the right values. People should turn off their TV and raise their children in a more conservative manner than today, teach them the value of discipline, decency, hard work, and personal responsibility for their lives and their future. Then we would have less drunk kids, less rootless kids feeling there is no purpose with their lives. The schools should also be a whole lot stricter, like they used to be before the New Left took over. In China, with much stricter upbringing, there is no age limit on buying alcohol - but youths don't drink, except for a few rotten seeds. Although with more contact with the West, that is unfortunately changing.

In Bahrain, the most serious problem in the classroom is that the kids don't raise their hands often enough.

I have worked as a temp teacher from time to time while studying. And I have four friends who work as teachers in Stockholm, who say "this generation is lost." I can definitely start to believe Oswald Spengler's description of the last phase of a civilization.



Oops, how boring of me, to talk about conservative values. Who doesn't prefer the American classroom or the Swedish classroom, right? And weed, man, that's like, so cool.

[luns101]

Whatever that legal age is, it should be the same for joining the military, driving, drinking, going to prison as opposed to "juvi", etc. If your an adult...your an adult.

I could probably live with that...I wouldn't be too excited about allowing 18 year olds the chance to drink, but it wouldn't be the end of the world either. When I was in the military, the NCO's basically just took us to the club on the weekends and everyone turned the other way while we minors drank. The important thing was, was that we had superiors who made sure none of us drove home afterwards.

But realistically the American electorate is not clamoring for major overhauls of the current age restrictions for the things you mentioned above. It seems that we've set up a system where people are allowed to obtain "adult" privileges incrementally from the ages of 16 - 21. If most people were actually upset with that system, it would be changed.

[Jenos Ridan]

New points anyone?

[The Gunslinger]

I firmly believe people should be allowed to vote from 16 years old. At this age people are mature enough to know their own mind (in law).

I couldn't disagree with you more on this one, flashleg. I really don't want the fate of the US being decided by those whose main concerns in life are 'who got voted off of American Idol last night?' and 'did you hear what so-and-so said about so-and-so?'.

im gonna have to go with Luns on this one. im a soph in highschool. i try stay up to date with it but still dont jack about politics. Most kids my age would just vote who their parents vote for.

[Jenos Ridan]

I firmly believe people should be allowed to vote from 16 years old. At this age people are mature enough to know their own mind (in law).

I couldn't disagree with you more on this one, flashleg. I really don't want the fate of the US being decided by those whose main concerns in life are 'who got voted off of American Idol last night?' and 'did you hear what so-and-so said about so-and-so?'.

im gonna have to go with Luns on this one. im a soph in highschool. i try stay up to date with it but still dont jack about politics. Most kids my age would just vote who their parents vote for.

Or like my kid sister, which ever one is least ugly .