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Why the US needs to lower the legal drinking age

There's plenty of checks and other such things in place, including safety measures. But if someone wanted to, they absolutely could bypass them, so long as they knew how and were trusted enough to operate those systems.

And we had to know what our system did. We were actually really some of the worst order followers in the military because a major part of our job involved questioning orders we were given that seem wrong. If an order we are given was wrong and we followed it anyway knowing it was wrong, we could seriously screw up the reactor, cause a major nuclear incident.


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I don't get from you that there is no one "over" 21 not overseeing the chain of order to allow someone under 21 to be an unchecked link in the chain to "the button". If that person under 21 was to do anything other than was ordered, it would be checked. No doubt about it. The military knows, to a dot of the i and the cross of the t that the human mind, regardless of evaluation of an individual's development, has not developed to the degree necessary to trust so young a person's involvement in such a national security critical process.
 
I don't get from you that there is no one "over" 21 not overseeing the chain of order to allow someone under 21 to be an unchecked link in the chain to "the button". If that person under 21 was to do anything other than was ordered, it would be checked. No doubt about it. The military knows, to a dot of the i and the cross of the t that the human mind, regardless of evaluation of an individual's development, has not developed to the degree necessary to trust so young a person's involvement in such a national security critical process.

There are plenty of people overseeing the process but not in that way. It wouldn't take that much time to mess something up if someone wanted to. In addition, this whole age thing you keep harping on is ridiculous. We can qualify to be one of those supervisors before we are 21. Even officers are barely over 21 if so just from the nature of their schooling but no rule prevents an officer from being under 21 and being qualified as a supervisor. In addition to that we do not assume that just because someone is over 21 they are automatically more responsible than someone under 21. Many of the stupidest things I've seen done on watch or at least in our spaces were done by someone over 21, including an assault that led to an injury which wasn't really punished.

You are the only one here assuming the military cares about age when it comes to qualifying individuals in certain positions.


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There are plenty of people overseeing the process but not in that way. It wouldn't take that much time to mess something up if someone wanted to. In addition, this whole age thing you keep harping on is ridiculous. We can qualify to be one of those supervisors before we are 21. Even officers are barely over 21 if so just from the nature of their schooling but no rule prevents an officer from being under 21 and being qualified as a supervisor. In addition to that we do not assume that just because someone is over 21 they are automatically more responsible than someone under 21. Many of the stupidest things I've seen done on watch or at least in our spaces were done by someone over 21, including an assault that led to an injury which wasn't really punished.

You are the only one here assuming the military cares about age when it comes to qualifying individuals in certain positions.


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You must be privy to what I am not. Not by my own knowledge, but by common sense, I would not think somebody so young as under 21 years of age would qualify as a "go/no-go" link in the chain of command to the nuclear "button" (not that there really is one). Somebody in a decision making position that could affect the security of the world. That's just my opinion.
 
Australia is a percentile lower. It's almost like a higher drinking age wasn't necessary for australia to have a smaller percentage of drunk driving deaths than the US.

Ehhhhh.

I think 1% is way too high myself.

Throw the keys away and catch a ride.
 
By now, it is no suprise that America's legal drinking age is 21. This was achieved in the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 in an effort to cut down on drunk driving which threatened to cut off 10% of highway funding to states which did not comply. Politicians have always remained silent about the legal drinking age; even bernie sanders who has won the support of many millennials remains silent about it. Now that elections are coming up, it is time to break the silence and here's why it should be lowered to 18.

1. Double standard: you are old enough to participate in the voting process, join the military, smoke tobacco (except in california), and buy a home at 18 but drinking responsibly requires too much maturity?:confused: Alcolhol has become a big part of america's culture as seen in the extensive amount of beer commercials on sports channels. Smoking tobacco has become increasingly unpopular. Why do you only have to be 18 to smoke but 21 to drink then?

2. the rest of the world frowns upon this: here are all of the countries' legal drinking ages (pic below). The crimson ones have it set at 21 while the black ones are under prohibition. 14 countries have it a 21, only one of which does not have a muslim majority (take notes islamaphobes)
View attachment 67201037

There are people who defend the legal drinking age saying that it saves lives. My counterargument is that banning cars saves even more lives.

Restrict military recruiting to 21 and over. I think that would reduce the hypocrisy.
 
Restrict military recruiting to 21 and over. I think that would reduce the hypocrisy.

And raise the voting age. I think lowering the drinking age to 18 is far more possible though
 
By now, it is no suprise that America's legal drinking age is 21. This was achieved in the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 in an effort to cut down on drunk driving which threatened to cut off 10% of highway funding to states which did not comply. Politicians have always remained silent about the legal drinking age; even bernie sanders who has won the support of many millennials remains silent about it. Now that elections are coming up, it is time to break the silence and here's why it should be lowered to 18.

1. Double standard: you are old enough to participate in the voting process, join the military, smoke tobacco (except in california), and buy a home at 18 but drinking responsibly requires too much maturity?:confused: Alcolhol has become a big part of america's culture as seen in the extensive amount of beer commercials on sports channels. Smoking tobacco has become increasingly unpopular. Why do you only have to be 18 to smoke but 21 to drink then?

2. the rest of the world frowns upon this: here are all of the countries' legal drinking ages (pic below). The crimson ones have it set at 21 while the black ones are under prohibition. 14 countries have it a 21, only one of which does not have a muslim majority (take notes islamaphobes)
View attachment 67201037

There are people who defend the legal drinking age saying that it saves lives. My counterargument is that banning cars saves even more lives.

Drinking age should be 18. Nanny ninnies went on a MADD rampage a few years back because they are nanny ninnies.
 
Restrict military recruiting to 21 and over. I think that would reduce the hypocrisy.

18 year olds make better soldiers as they are at peak physical condition. They are also legally adults, and many have nothing else to do now that high school is over. Better to decriminalize drinking given we never gave the federal govt power to regulate what we drink.
 
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