And just when you think things couldn't get worse for Isiah Thomas...

To say nothing of having a 19 year old come back without a leg and be unable to buy a cold beer

 

Think he's any worse than the Jordans?

 

So you can go to war and you can vote but you can't have a beer . Wow that seems really logical

 

I understand the rationale for 18 year olds in the legal equation of vote, fight in war = drink.

The problem with an 18 drinking age is it's going to make it that much easier for 15, 16, 17 year olds to drink. To me, that's the rationale for not lowering it to 18.

 

Not in NY, no grandfathering when the age went from 18 to 19, or when it went from 19 to 21.

 

If you are old enough to protect your country you are old enough to have a beer.

 

When I was 18 in New Jersey, they changed the law reducing the age from 21 to 18, so I was 18 and several months when I could legally drink.

In the 1980s, the federal government changed the laws of the states, in effect, because they said states with drinking ages of less than 21 would not get highway funds. The reason for the higher age was given as a claim that there were higher drunk driving rates.

It is interesting that there are few things a 19-year-old person can not do other than drink - they can sign contracts, get married, sue and be sued, purchase cigarettes.

The "old enough to fight, old enough to drink" argument was a lot stronger when there was a military draft. Now, somebody can start a business legally at 18, so it is a question of opportunity and rights. The age of majority has been solidly established at 18 for three decades.

As a parent of a 13-year-old, I kind of like the idea of a drinking age of 21. And I can recognize that the government's right to control liquor sales is different than other age of majority issues.

Can the drinking age of 21 be logically justified? That's a tough one. Maybe some sort of intermediate step, like pubs on college campus and limiting sales to beer or wine might be a good idea.

 

Another problem: Police Departments enforce immoral laws. Granted, it's their job to do it. Not sure how they live with themselves though.