Drinking Age

For as long as I've been aware of it's existence, the legal drinking age has been 21. I haven't known it as being anything other than 21, but I have heard that it used to be as low as 18 in the USA, and 16 in other countries throughout the world.

Here in America, the decision is supposed to be left up to the states, and it still is, however, the Federal Government, in it's infinite wisdom of knowing what's best for the people it serves, has decided that the legal age is 21, and if the states go lower than that then they don't get 10% of their highway funds.

The rationality behind this is that an 18 year old isn't mature enough to make a decision regarding alcohol. They say that our brains aren't fully developed until we're 25. The truth of the matter is that a rat's brain isn't full developed until the human age of 25.

The video points out things that 18 year olds can legally do: take out loans, get credit cards, serve on a jury (which could mean deciding whether someone else lives or dies in some states) vote for our elected officials (basically voting for people who can decide if a lot of people live or die) and 18 year olds are deemed mature enough to decide for themselves if they fight on behalf of our country to protect our freedom. They've found that 18 year olds are mature enough to decide whether or not they can risk their own life for a cause of someone else's choosing.

By all logic, anyone who is considered mature enough to make any of those life altering decisions should be mature enough to make a decision about whether or not they want to drink alcohol.

Something I have yet to come across though, is any drinking establishment which won't serve alcohol to a member of the military who is under 21. Frankly, I think that at the least legislation should be passed which lowers the drinking for anyone who is actively serving in our military, since they feel they can't lower the drinking age for everyone.