Despite the claims of MADD, the federally imposed minimum legal drinking age of 21 doesn’t save lives. But it does restrict the freedom of adults, and erodes federalism. In fact, that 1984 act (under Reagan) is one of the reasons that I don’t miss Elizabeth Dole.
6 thoughts on “Another Failed Federal Initiative”
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Are people legally adults under 21 in the USA, and does that vary from state to state?
If they aren’t (universally), then said minimum is nothing to do with restricting adult freedom. Incidentally, the concept of adulthood is not an absolute anywhere in the USA (or anywhere else for that matter). A UK example; here you are adult enough to indulge in s3xual relations at age 16, adult enough to drive a car or get your head blown off in the military at age 17, adult enough to view adult films and to vote at age 18.
I believe that in the USA, you are considered adult enough to become a senator at age 30; so perhaps that is the age of full adulthood as Americans see it. Correct me please if I am wrong in that matter of fact.
Eighteen is the age of the majority in the US. All eighteen-year-olds are eligible to vote, to drive, to get a pilot’s license, to join the military. But they can’t buy a beer.
Fletcher has the constitutionally prescribed Senate minimum age correct, though why that one should make the difference escapes me when the minimum age for the House of Representatives is 25. (For president it’s 35.)
Anyway, I don’t know that I’d want to live in a country where the age of adulthood per se is prescribed in a document that sets forth the powers, and limits thereunto, of the government. Just doesn’t seem to be the right place for a provision like that.
We do have some screwed up notions of when someone becomes an adult. At a movie theater, you’ll be charged as an adult when you’re 12 or 13. In many states, you can be prosecuted as an adult if you commit a serious crime even if you’re barely a teenager. Age of consent for sex varies from state to state but it’s often quite young.
You can fly solo in a sailplane at age 14 and get your license when you’re 16. You can get your car driver’s license at 16 and solo a powered plane at 16 (license at 17). You can join the military with your parents’ permission at 17 or on your own at 18. At 18, you can enter into legal agreements, get married, and vote.
But you can’t buy an alcoholic beverage. How stupid is that?
NOBODY misses Elizabeth Dole– speaking as a resident of North Carolina. She always voted with W, but couldn’t come through with cash (like for light rail, even though she was transportation secretary) for her adopted state. Good Riddance!
I thought I read somewhere that an 0.1 blood alcohol was less dangerous than talking on a cell phone while driving. Since I consider a careful phone conversation with my wife an acceptable risk, logically, I guess a bottle of beer ought to also be equally acceptable…..
Regardless of age or opinions about MADD, drinking + driving = stupid.