When you turn 18 you can defend and die for your country, vote for the leader of your country, and even experience the holy matrimony of marriage; however you may not consume any type of alcoholic beverage. Take a second to reflect on that thought for a moment. You can marry the woman or man of your dreams, but you will not be legally able to celebrate at your own wedding with any type of champagne or alcohol. You can be sent to the vast war infected countries to die for your own country and be looked upon to be mature enough for this, yet by law you are not looked upon to be mature enough for a cold beer. This is a hot topic that has many people’s opinions out there on the web, and even creeping into congress. There are people who take the same stance as me that the legal drinking age should be lowered to 18, and it would be in your best interest to hear not only them but their argument out.
The concept of lowering the drinking age is not just one that is a dream of all under age kids that want to get their hands on some alcohol, but a common belief of many U.S. representatives, adults, and kids. The three blog posts that I read are not only “must reads” but “go read right now reads”. “If 18 is old enough to lift a weapon in defense of your country, its old enough to lift a cold beer on base”, this was a quote by a U.S. representative in the first of the three must read blog posts I read. The blog was posted by Larry Peterson and gives a very strong structural argument that addresses both the opposition’s side of lowering the drinking age and then counters the arguments to those. “There they are in their rucksacks, and they’re going off to operate Abrams tanks and Black Hawk helicopters and squeeze the triggers on their M-4 rifles. We tell them they’re responsible enough to do that and risk their lives, but not responsible enough to have a beer with their steak on post. I think that’s an insult”, said Peterson. This is a strong statement and not only from an opinionated standpoint, but from a human rights standpoint. Yes Peterson does focus a little heavily on the military standpoint of things, but there is no bypassing the importance and gratefulness of an American soldier.
The second must read that pertained to the topic of lowering the drinking age to 18 was one that focused on the Duke Presidents strongly opinionated statements favoring the topic. If you as an individual have any interest or initiative to have the drinking age lowered to 18, this blog post is one you should defiantly read. Duke president Richard Brodhead makes many thorough arguments in favor of the changing of the drinking age. Brodhead says the current law “pushes drinking into hiding, heightening its risks” and prevents school officials “from addressing drinking with students as an issue of responsible choice.” It is pretty commonly agreed upon by young teens that once they go to college drinking does not seem as “fun” because they can do it whenever they like. Many of these teens being 18 years of age anyway. The remainder of this blog goes on to give many other strongly opinionated arguments advocating the lowering of the drinking age by Brodhead, and numerous congressmen. I would strongly urge readers of all different interests and beliefs to take time out of their schedule to read this blog because the content is mind boggling and makes it become very evident that the current drinking age is one that should be lowered. When an opinion is given by a highly credited individual it becomes a much more worthy and notable opinion that cannot as easily be dismissed by the everyday person. This is another reason why I urge you to read this blog post!
My third and final must read blog post was posted by a notable blogger, Drew Olson. Like my other two must reads Olson gives a very persuasive argument to why the legal drinking age deserves to be lowered, and counters many peoples opposing opinions as well. Olson makes a strong statement in the defense that the number of car accidents has not lowered due to the drinking age but because of stricter seatbelt and speeding laws. Olson says, “Plenty of smart people will counter my argument with plenty of statistics showing that raising the drinking age to 21 reduced the number of accidents and deaths on our highways. I will grant that, but counter that safer vehicles, increased emphasis on curtailing speeding and mandatory seat belt laws have played a role in that reduction.” This is one of many strong cases that Olson makes in his blog post and this is why I highly recommend you go to his website and read his blog post on the legal drinking age.
Lowering the legal drinking age is a hot topic in today’s world that has and will have a large impact on many American young adults. Whether or not lowering the age is what you stand for I still strongly recommend all three of these blog posts and encourage you to consider all of the pros to the question, putting aside the immediate availability of alcohol. It is unclear at this point and time if the legal drinking age will be lowered but, with these three articles in mind I don’t see why it shouldn’t be.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3396443/
http://www.onmilwaukee.com/myOMC/authors/drewolson/lowerdrinkingage.html
http://savannahnow.com/news/2010-09-02/kingston-lower-age-drink-beer-or-win-military-posts-18
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