Do you think the drinking age should be 18 again?

Since this country is an alleged Republic, I say leave it up to each state's voting populace to determine the laws for their state, including the drinking age.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

I'm really setting myself up here, but it does seem that people put on the mantle of responsibility at a much later age than they did 30 years ago, IE: leave home, get married, have children, assume financial responsibility etc, and that they seem to bear this responsibility with much less success today. I know the age statistics of the forum members. I am prepared to get it with both barrels.

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Yea! What's up with these kids sitting around playing games all day! They should be working! Get down in those coal mines you wussies! Knit that sweater! Bend that metal rod!!!

I voted "yes", but I do have a few thoughts about the issue from both sides.

I do believe that if you can die for your country, and kill for your country, you should be able to have a beer if you want it.

I also think that there would be more accidents as a result of a lower (or no) drinking age. It IS true that Europeans have a statistically lower rate of alcohol-induced accidents in teens. Consider this, however: how many teens own their own vehicles in Europe? Gas (petrol) is really expensive in Europe ($8+ per LITER in some places), and younger kids just don't own their own vehicles, and their parents may only own one or none, depending on how rural they are.

In many European countries, they have an AMAZING public transportation system, so if kids DO go out to drink, they're taking the bus/train home. I would imagine this could account for the statistical discrepancy. In the USA, public transit is mediocre at best. In my small town, we don't have any sort of public transit available--not even taxis--and the only real clubs, etc. are 45 minutes away. I'm not much of a partier, but my sister is. She's 22, and has spent her fair share of nights driving home drunk from clubs--in spite of offers to come get her if she needs a ride.

In my family of 5, we're all what I would call "lower middle-class" as far as income goes. All 5 of us have cars--and my siblings and I all owned our own cars by the age of 17. I'm willing to bet that sort of statistic doesn't exist in European families with any sort of frequency. If you're not driving at all, you can't drive drunk, and you also can't create statistics.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Yea! What's up with these kids sitting around playing games all day! They should be working! Get down in those coal mines you wussies! Knit that sweater! Bend that metal rod!!!

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Wasn't work that I referring to but all the young people that I see that take out loans for cars, boats, toys etc and then make bad on the loans. All the young people that I see that make babies and the father runs off and the mother just brings the kids to her parents and just expects them to support and raise them too. I meant not responsibly shouldering responsibilities that people have voluntarily assumed. It really didn't used to be like that. And it's not just a bad economy causing this. The economy was worse when I was young than it is now. I never made bad on a debt or failed to support my family. It's different values. Most poor people that I see today have satellite tv dishes, big screen tv's, x boxes, cell phones, lottery tickets, alcohol and cigarettes, all things that they should be doing without in my opinion if they are having a tough time making it. Now I'm really going to get it.

I voted No on this poll but I think I'll have to take a yes and no stance. First let me say I don't think they should change the overall age back to 21. But if you fight for this Country maybe you should be allowed certain privileges. So if you have a military I.D. you can purchase alcohol.

Sorry, in my above post I noticed I said not to change the age back to 21. What I meant was that it should not be changed back to 18.:rolleye2:

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Originally Posted by snakecharmer3638

I voted No on this poll but I think I'll have to take a yes and no stance. First let me say I don't think they should change the overall age back to 21. But if you fight for this Country maybe you should be allowed certain privileges. So if you have a military I.D. you can purchase alcohol.

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I have not voted because I believe that anyone in the military should be allowed to drink while I feel that 18 is too young in most cases.

Personally, I think it should be 18..... we can die for our country at 18, we can pick a world leader at 18..... we should be able to drink at 18 as well!

Maybe we should be talking about instead raising the age to go into the military, vote, etc, to 21 from 18...I know more than a few 18 years olds that wouldn't even be able to point to Afghanistan or Georgia (the country) on a map, much less made educated decisions on politics, public service, and alcohol consumption.

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Originally Posted by Shadera

Military folks are able to drink at 18 on base. Personal experience and many, many fuzzy nights. :gj:

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Only at some overseas bases. In the states it is 21 on or off base. We have so many of our new kids get in trouble for this.