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Lower The Drinking Age in the USA |
1 Signatures |
Published by andrew on Nov 11, 2008
Category: Politics
Region: United States of America
Target: US Government
Description/History:
It's been 20 years that America has had a minimum federal drinking age. The policy began to gain momentum in the early 1980s, when the increasingly influential Mothers Against Drunk Driving added the federal minimum drinking age to its legislative agenda. By 1984, it had won over a majority of the Congress.
President Reagan initially opposed the law on federalism grounds but eventually was persuaded by his transportation secretary at the time, now-Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
Over the next three years every state had to choose between adopting the standard or forgoing federal highway funding; most complied. A few held out until the deadline, including Vermont, which fought the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court (and lost).
Twenty years later, the drawbacks of the legislation are the same as they were when it was passed.
The first is that the age set by the legislation is basically arbitrary. The U.S. has the highest drinking age in the world (a title it shares with Indonesia, Mongolia, Palau). The vast majority of the rest of the world sets the minimum age at 17 or 16 or has no minimum age at all.
President Reagan initially opposed the law on federalism grounds but eventually was persuaded by his transportation secretary at the time, now-Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
Over the next three years every state had to choose between adopting the standard or forgoing federal highway funding; most complied. A few held out until the deadline, including Vermont, which fought the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court (and lost).
Twenty years later, the drawbacks of the legislation are the same as they were when it was passed.
The first is that the age set by the legislation is basically arbitrary. The U.S. has the highest drinking age in the world (a title it shares with Indonesia, Mongolia, Palau). The vast majority of the rest of the world sets the minimum age at 17 or 16 or has no minimum age at all.
Petition:
We should lower the drinking age to 19 or 18 years of age because we are considered adult. When was the last time you heard a kid turn down a drink saying not "I don't drink, thank you," but "I better not, I'm not 21 yet."
In other words, a kid is going to drink at 18 if she wants to, regardless of whether the law says 18 or 21. The juvenile courts are jammed with "minor in possession" cases. If they weren't, they might have more time and funds to deal with the kids with more serious issues.
In other words, a kid is going to drink at 18 if she wants to, regardless of whether the law says 18 or 21. The juvenile courts are jammed with "minor in possession" cases. If they weren't, they might have more time and funds to deal with the kids with more serious issues.
The Lower The Drinking Age in the USA petition to US Government was written by andrew and is hosted free of charge at GoPetition.
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