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Writer's Block: Young and driven
Apr. 30th, 2010 04:45 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
Here in the US, it's 21. We can vote, buy smokes and die for our country at 18, so why not drink? If you're old enough to decide who will be president or sign up for military-assisted suicide, you should be able to decide if you want to have beer with your pizza.
I also think if a kid, regardless of age, is accompanied by an adult in public, they should be allowed to have wine or beer with a meal. It might actually prevent a good number of alcohol-related young adult deaths, simply because if the taboo is removed from the product and it is used in familiar surroundings on a daily basis, there would be no need to go out and bar crawl on your 21st birthday. Spring breaks would be more about blowing off steam and less about alcohol poisoning. It would be a great source of undiscovered revenue, too. Kids with disposable pocket money could just walk into a liquor store and buy liquor - and pay taxes on said liquor.
Of course, the main reason America will never lower or remove the drinking age is because parents don't want all that responsibility. I mean, having to cut your kid off because his or her grades are slipping, or because he's missing too many classes due to hangovers... geez, what a pain in the ass that would be. Having to actually pay attention to your own kid's drinking habits when you've got your own to worry about doesn't fit the American lifestyle. We'd rather hand our kids over to the educators and government than actually, horror and dismay - PAY ATTENTION TO THEM!
/soapbox
Here in the US, it's 21. We can vote, buy smokes and die for our country at 18, so why not drink? If you're old enough to decide who will be president or sign up for military-assisted suicide, you should be able to decide if you want to have beer with your pizza.
I also think if a kid, regardless of age, is accompanied by an adult in public, they should be allowed to have wine or beer with a meal. It might actually prevent a good number of alcohol-related young adult deaths, simply because if the taboo is removed from the product and it is used in familiar surroundings on a daily basis, there would be no need to go out and bar crawl on your 21st birthday. Spring breaks would be more about blowing off steam and less about alcohol poisoning. It would be a great source of undiscovered revenue, too. Kids with disposable pocket money could just walk into a liquor store and buy liquor - and pay taxes on said liquor.
Of course, the main reason America will never lower or remove the drinking age is because parents don't want all that responsibility. I mean, having to cut your kid off because his or her grades are slipping, or because he's missing too many classes due to hangovers... geez, what a pain in the ass that would be. Having to actually pay attention to your own kid's drinking habits when you've got your own to worry about doesn't fit the American lifestyle. We'd rather hand our kids over to the educators and government than actually, horror and dismay - PAY ATTENTION TO THEM!
/soapbox
