The Legal Drinking and Gambling Age Should be Reduced to 18

In response to your final argument about the tenth amendment, I am merely discussing this matter because the national government has created federal laws about this issue despite the fact that it may be unconstitutional. Aside- But then again the national government does a lot of unconstitutional things that we just have to accept like public education, which is supposed to be run by the states. Furthermore, I still disagree with you that lowering the drinking age to 18 would increase the danger in modern day's society. When you talk about increased alcohol related instances I notice that you are referring to drunken driving. In studying sociological perspectives on the subject of drunken driving as it changes over time in college I feel compelled to point out that before the 1980's the sociological perspective of drunken driving was that it was not the fault of the person who performed the act, people saw drunken driving as inevitable. During the period of the 1970's and prior the NATSA focused mainly on making sure that vehicles were safe for drivers who got into drunk related accidents, because, as I continue to stress, the blame was not put on the drunk driver. However, with the creation of social groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Remove Intoxicated Drivers (RID) the perspective on drunk driving shifted. The blame is currently more focused on those who make the choice to get drunk and then operate a motor vehicle. Furthermore, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) became a major advocate of putting the blame on the drunk driver. Now that the blame is put on those who perform such selfish and unsafe acts, people are more dissuaded from driving under the influence. Also, between the years of 1979-1987 media coverage on the issue of drunk driving and the focus on the frame of the "killer drunk," people became more accustomed to the idea of blaming drunk drivers for their actions (Citation: all the information is in chapter 6 from a book by John D. McCarthy called "Activists, Authorities, and Media Framing of Drunk Driving." Unfortunately I cannot attach a link b/c the excerpt is from a password protected pdf file on the school website). In addition, this media coverage opened people's eyes to the horrors of drunken driving and its effect on innocent people. I can say from first hand experience at college that drunk driving here is not highly prevalent. We have a type of taxi service called "safe ride" that most students who drink tend to use. This is because the sociological perspective has been changed by the media and overall population to put the blame more on the drunk driver themselves, rather than accepting drunk driving as an inevitable occurrence. To rap up all this my point is that today's population is much more responsible when it comes to drunk driving than it used to be. I understand your concern that drunk driving can infringe on other people's lives, but just because there are a few accidents does not mean that people who can be drafted and given the license to kill, cannot drink a little. Give me a break. Besides, it's not like teenagers who want to drink can't get their hands on alcohol very easily anyway. My point here is that kids who want to binge drink are going to do so no matter what, but there are actually kids who want to just drink moderately at the age of 18, and they should be able to do so. They should not be punished for the irresponsibility of their peers. Hence, if you lower the drinking age from 21 to 18 you will not see a significant increase in binge drinking and drunken driving in today's educated, modernized age. What you will see instead, is an increase in the number of teens who drink moderately and socially. Finally, in regards to Europe, dullurd makes a good point that I forgot to mention. In European countries you don't see a lot of binge drinking occur. Mainly this is because younger teens are able to drink with their parents and friends socially, so as to learn how to control their drinking habits as opposed to abusing their freedom when they reach college. With this point in mind, I would even consider dropping the age down to even maybe 16 like it is in some European countries, but I'll focus on the age of 18 for purposes of this debate. Well I think that's about all I have to say. I understand that I didn't touch on gambling much but you know, w/e, we'll stick to alcohol. Anyways Libertarian thanks for debating me, it was fun, and good job in this debate as well as in the many others that I have seen you participate in.