US Legal Drinking Age

So I've been intrigued by something rather recently. Actually I've been wondering about it for years now. It's the United States legal drinking age. While most countries say children become adults at 18, and have the right to do pretty much anything while still being held accountable for their actions...

In the US it seems that at 18 you become an adult... But you are NOT allowed to gamble, or to drink. Basically you're able to be thrown in jail, held accountable for anything and everything you do, be drafted, be sent to war, join the army, and are required to pay taxes (For those of us working.)

So we're adults, but... We're not. No. In fact, we're anything but. What our government is saying, is you owe us 3 years of service. Before you are given all the freedoms and rights which our constitution dares to promise us.

While I already have a lack of faith in government in general, this bit strikes me rather hard. And I have looked at all the arguments for the 21 age guideline for drinking and gambling versus the 18 year old age limit.

It's funny though, a majority of the arguments for the age limit staying the same are related to accidents.

They group underage drinking in with car accidents, but we still give 16 year old's licenses. We still allow them to get into a car, before they're even legally ready to handle responsibility. Before the government will step in to pick them up for a draft. Yet at 18 we require that all adult males sign up for the draft. We expect them to obediently run into a war that they wouldn't have chosen, and to die in said war... Yet we wont even treat them as adults?

I'm sorry but I don't see how it's fair to tell an 18 year old man,

"Congratulations. You're an adult."

You now,

-Go to jail for committing a crime.
-Pay taxes.
-Are required by law to sign up for the draft.
-Can join the army.
-Can smoke cigarettes.
-Buy a house.
-Buy a car.

So now, if I get caught drinking. This isn't just some small thing. There's no taking me home and telling my parents. Now I can get fined and can be put in jail. Yet, the funny thing is... I still can't gamble. I can't use the money that I've paid taxes for, and worked for, in a manner that is fitting of my wishes.

How is that right? How is it fair? All I hear across the board, is irresponsibility this, and driving that. But the sad fact is, by making Alcohol this pleasure that is banned until one turns 21. You turn these potentially law abiding 18 year olds into criminals. You make it taboo, and you create a stronger want for them to indulge in it.

If you want to keep the age of legal drinking at 21, why not raise the legal age for driving to that age? Why not bring the age of consent to 21?

Drinking isn't the bane on society that people love to think it is. A single beer wont turn someone into a vicious monster. Much like a single cigarette wont cause your lungs to burn. How can we be limited in one area but not in another?

There is no statistical figure stating that raising the legal drinking age has prevented drunk driving. There isn't a single person who can say with full honest that all 21 year olds are responsible. So what is that three year wait for? No one waits til they're 21. Some don't even wait til they're 18, and so in keeping that age guideline all that is done is you turn law abiding citizens into criminals.

You'd put a gun in a child's hands, but you would not allow them a beer. Pretty hypocritical if you ask me.

Funny how the people who support the drinking age are generally not drinkers, and can't seriously contest that. We'd love to believe we're an advanced country, yet what's the legal age to drink in most of Europe? 18. And they still manage to have less occurrences of drunk driving.

In my opinion. They need to raise the legal age to drive to 18. Then they'd actually see a result in terms of less accidents. Teach kids earlier how to drink responsibly. And how to act responsibly...


Don't call someone an adult, if you're not willing to let them do the things adults in the country are allowed to do.