CMV: The drinking age in the US should be lower for people without driving licenses.
There's always the standard argument for lowering the drinking age in the US, "you can vote and own a gun at 18 but you're not trusted to drink, you can smoke cigarettes but you can't drink alcohol" which, honestly, should hold enough merit already. The drinking age in the US, I believe, is not federally mandated; every state simply has imposed a drinking age of 21 with some conditionals (as a New Yorker, I was drinking in public establishments with my parents since I was a teenager) due to pressure in the 1980's regarding teens drunk driving.
Drunk driving is, of course, a big problem. But if the primary reason groups like MADD lobbied to raise the drinking age was to curtail drunk driving, doesn't it follow that those who cannot or do not drive should be allowed to drink? Millennials are the first generation to drive less than their parents (though I think even now only the youngest of millennials are under 21) and I assume the trend will continue for the generation following, who're the only people who might be effected by this rule. With ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft meaning it's easier than ever to get a car, and with driverless cars on the horizon of future technologies, it should not be a problem for someone who's eighteen to drink.
If you present, say, a learner's permit showing you are over either eighteen (or whatever age is decided to be acceptable to drink) or have some form of ID that proves you are not licensed to operate a vehicle, you should be allowed to be served.
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Posted Feb 22, 2016, 5:04 AM UTC