Should the drinking age be lowered to 18

United States
December 12, 2006 5:55pm CST
Having seen a question, should the legal age to marry be lowered to 13, the answer obviously being no because then every jailed petafile would instead be married, this question came to mind. I've been of drinking age for many years now and it's of no concern to me, but it will be to my kids, and would have an impact on everyone if it were to be lowered. Im neither for or against a movement in either direction, but I find it contradictory that a government can offer a man a chance to die before offering him a beer. The obvious and most swaying arguement for the lowering of the age would be that at 18yrs old a young man or women can go and sign up to fight, and die in a lot of cases, for their country. If someone can make a life changing decision like this, then shouldn't they be shown the respect to buy and consum alcohol. I know for a fact that some peeple in the military regularly look the other way and sometimes encourages underage drinking, but it's normally under the supervision of people who's job is to care for those that can't care for themselves. An arguement against lowering it is the fact that it does save lives because there arn't as many teenagers out there drinking and driving. This is a proven fact, and one that helped raise the limit originally. The drinking age in other countries around the world vary from none at all to making it entirely illegal, but the United States has one of the highest drinking ages of any industrialized country. The question remains, even if we were to lower the drinking age, when would it be appropriate for our society in general.
No responses