Gambling and Drinking age: Why 21?

[HYHYBT]

And yet they're somehow mature enough to get sent off to war to kill or even die for their country.

You could argue that if we set the age for joining the military *after* the age where the brain develops good judgement, there would not be enough recruits

Or that the same result would come, not from better judgement, but simply because by then they'd already be established on some other track.

[MadMike]

You could argue that if we set the age for joining the military *after* the age where the brain develops good judgement, there would not be enough recruits

I've actually thought about that, and it could be more true than you think.

[Hyena Dandy]

On the same issue, which everybody knows. It's fine and dandy, and it use to to be even enforced, that you could KILL for your country at 18, Not to mention you even got paid for it, given rewards and other stuff, but man you better not touch that whisky to help you calm yourself somewhat, after witnessing all your friends get blown up, seen a school full of refugees set on fire and horrible screaming of pain and death if your still under 21. Your here to kill, not drink damn it.

Like I've said before. You gotta be 18 to go to war, and 21 to forget it.

[BigGiant]

HBYBT-

I was going to post the same thing, but didn't know how to word it so that it didn't sound so...awkward.

[draco664]

Not to mention that we fought and long, bloody civil war over this very issue.

If we just simply obeyed the Constitution and actually paid attention to the Tenth Amendment there wouldn't be an issue.

As it stands, there is only one way an individual can 'disobey' the constitution. (There were 2, but 1 got shitcanned) So unless you are a lawmaker (or a slave trader) you cannot 'obey' (or disobey) the constitution - it simply puts limits on the government.

Edit: And oddly enough, the other way an individual could disobey the constitution is rather germane to this thread - Prohibition.

[KnitShoni]

As an aside: It always struck me as funny that, if you're 18 (at least in Texas), you can sell, make, and serve alcoholic drinks, but you can't drink them yourself.

[Fire_on_High]

Not necessarily. There's also the underground aspect that teens have gotten used to with drinking. If drinking were pushed back down to 18 or (slightly) lower, it's yet another opportunity for parents to introduce their children to alcohol and teach some form of moderation. Teens who want to drink will find a way, anyway. Making it "cool" by locking it down has the opposite effect of what you desire.

That's long been my thought. If beer was treated as "Something you drink a frosty cold one after mowing the lawn in summer heat." or "A treat to sip at a baseball game to cool off." rather than a forbidden fruit or rite of passage, the amount of kids who just go bananas on it the first time they're out of sight and can get away with it would go waaaay down.

Do you see that sort of frenzy for gatorade or coke? Only from the kids who've been forbidden to drink THOSE. What lesson can we take from this? Perhaps the oldest lesson of humanity, depending on your beliefs...forbidding something makes it all the more desirable.

In the interests of full disclosure, it's a generally non drinking household, but my mother was never particularly stuffy about the laws. If I'd gone and done something idiotic? Yeah, I'd have had my ass kicked. But curious what something tasted like, the very few times there WAS alcohol around? Not an issue, here's a little to try and see what you think.

I ended up a nondrinker due to not liking the taste nor having it agree with me particularly well, but even if I'd tried it, liked it, and been able to drink without issue it was simply never presented in a way that made it seem like something to act stupidly over.

[blas87]

Alcohol was a forbidden fruit for me growing up. I drank heavily from my teenage years to about 22. Now I don't even care for the taste of most (save for a mudslide....YUM) and I realized that when you don't get much time off of work, you don't waste it all being drunk or hungover.

I don't know what my bf and my friends' problems are, but they are not giving it up anytime soon. The whole entire weekend revolves around alcohol and partying and noise.

[Andara Bledin]

My household was one of education first. Both my brother and I could have a swallow or two of alcohol whenever it was around. We were also told why it was bad for people who are still growing to have much more than that and that once we were fully grown we could make the decision from there.

Neither my brother nor I have any real interest in drinking. I don't care for the taste of most alcohol, and he'll have a beer or two if he's at a party or with company, but I don't think he ever drinks alone.

I don't know what my bf and my friends' problems are, but they are not giving it up anytime soon. The whole entire weekend revolves around alcohol and partying and noise.

It could be that they just haven't found a way that they prefer to unwind. Or some of them are just slower to mature than you.

^-.-^