Drinking Age

Today I will tackle the semi- controversial topic of reducing the drinking age from what it is now, twenty one, to what many think it should be, eighteen. Eighteen I think is a very reasonable legal drinking age. Now you may think, oh he is just a young kid that wants to go out and get hammered all the time legally, but I’m not one of those kids. Matter of fact, I don’t really even drink and I don’t go to parties on a regular basis. I have just looked at the facts and personally I think it’s unreasonable to have such a high drinking age.
How old do you have to be to enroll in the army? How old must you be to vote? How old is required to be able to buy a lottery ticket or tobacco? You must be eighteen to do all of these things. At eighteen years of age the government considers you a full grown “ adult “ , trust you to live life on your own, be responsible and serve on a jury . Although they trust citizens to do all of these things at eighteen, the government still has no trust in them with alcohol.
Would you fight for your nation and its freedom? Would you fight for its freedom and rights if you were not even included in the rights that you are putting your life on the line for? Should a nation be able to put a citizen’s life on the line that they are not even granting the rights that they are telling them to fight for? I would have a very hard time doing that, but many soldiers are doing that every day to protect America. I don’t know about you but personally, I find it hard to think that citizens should have to fight for rights that they are not included in.
At eighteen you are given the responsibility and made to serve on a jury in a court case if you are registered to vote (all should be). Some may see this as a civic duty and others a burden forced by others. Either way you look at it you are most likely going to do it at some point. Now think about this, at eighteen years old they put the fate of another human’s life partly in the hands of yours. The government trusts that you are responsible enough to choose the fate of an alleged criminal, yet they do not trust you to be able to drink alcoholic beverages responsibly and choose not to do anything illegal or abuse your power.
How would you describe being an adult? What do most people think of when they hear the word adult? Not many people think an eighteen year old; who just graduated and is either going to college, joining the military or starting the workforce is an adult. Still most think of us as kids, confused youth, or hellions, but not the government, to them we are adults. I think if we are adults and can receive adult punishments and fight for adult rights, we should therefore be considered adults in all aspects.
Voting, this is a big deal for the government. It is not to help choose who your next city, county, state, or nation’s leader is going to be, but it is what makes a democratic system of government what it is. The government trust eighteen year olds in every presidential election to choose the next leader of the United States of America. I think this is a big responsibility and I can only imagine that the government does too.
Gambling is an issue with in many Americans lives. It can ruin a life or make a life, although it ruins more than it helps. Gambling is an addiction among people everywhere. The addiction is easy to catch and hard to cure. Although the government knows this risk the government still trusts that eighteen year olds are responsible enough to not get addicted and ruin their life.
Even more addicting than gambling is tobacco. Tobacco poses great health risk. From smokeless tobacco which creates risk from gum decay to cancer or smoking tobacco, which causes diseases from black lung to throat or lung cancer. Tobacco is a very dangerous herb that the government trusts all adults to either use responsibly or to be even more smart and not use it at all.
At eighteen years of age the government also says your parents are not responsible for you whatsoever and you are responsible for your actions. The government is giving your guardians permission to kick you out the day you turn eighteen and making you live completely on your own but not letting you make all the decisions that you want to make.
I do not know about you all but I think the drinking age is too high and very unfair. The government calls you an adult the day you turn eighteen. When you make this big step in life the government gives you many responsibilities, almost all of which benefit the government in every extent. The government feels that it is necessary for you to register for the draft and possibly be forced to fight, vote and serve on a jury. They also believe you are responsible enough to choose whether you want to smoke or use harmful plants if you choose to, yet they still think you are too irresponsible to use alcohol and neglect to even give you a chance to try and prove yourself.
Why shouldn’t you be able to drink when you have so many other responsibilities? Should the government be able to force so many responsibilities on you yet reserve the highly anticipated one for later?