Repealing the Drinking Age?

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Luth4Cy

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Sep 19, 2012
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My parents never drank in front of my bothers and I, yet we all "drank to get plastered" in college. We're all responsible drinkers now without any problems. In fact, we all probably drank less in college once we turned 21.

I think it is a college culture that developed as a result of the drinking age limit.

Your parents could have drank in front of you though regardless of what the drinking age was.
 

jbhtexas

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Oct 20, 2006
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My parents never drank in front of my bothers and I, yet we all "drank to get plastered" in college. We're all responsible drinkers now without any problems. In fact, we all probably drank less in college once we turned 21.

I think it is a college culture that developed as a result of the drinking age limit.

My experience is completely different. I grew up in rural community were Saturday night was for drinking that would by today's standards result in ending up well over the legal limit. Many adults did it as well as their kids. In fact, a couple of my classmates had parents who would by them the beer. And there was no adult supervision when the kids were drinking. For the most part, the kids who avoided it had parents who drank sensibly.

Just curious, even though your parents didn't drink in front of you, did they hold the belief that drinking to get plastered was accpetable or unnacceptable behavior?
 

cloneswereall

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Aug 12, 2010
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The whole reason it becomes a 'rite of passage' is because of the drinking age being set so high. If they were learning good habits at home at a younger age it would not be a problem.
The people that have parents that would demonstrate the good habits are likely already doing that through example. A law for a certain age isn't going to change a societal view on alcohol use. Glorifying getting drunk via media (tv, movies, music, etc.) is what helped to create an issue of substance abuse, and lowering the age is not going to change that.
 

MLawrence

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Jan 21, 2010
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The major problem is that the U.S. is geared towards "LET'S GET DRUNK AS ****" whereas other countries just drink to be social not treat it as a who can get the most drunk contest.

And then they complain about sucking at Beerfest.
 

Luth4Cy

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Sep 19, 2012
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A 20 year old man can earn the medal of honor and help defend our freedom, but not come home and enjoy a Miller in a bar. Not right.

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These guys can't ever enjoy a Miller in a bar. They also can't swear in public.
 

00clone

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Apr 12, 2011
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A 20 year old man can earn the medal of honor and help defend our freedom, but not come home and enjoy a Miller in a bar. Not right.


No one can enjoy a Miller in a bar...there's no such thing as a Miller.

Miller Lite, MGD, Miller 64, Miller High Life, Miller Chill, Miller Fortune....but no Miller.
 

ricochet

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18 by law. 21 just because alcohol is served and they don't want to card twice.

In Iowa I'm pretty sure it is 21 by law. You can't even buy a lottery ticket unless you are 21 can you? Places like Meskwaki are 18 because they don't fall under Iowa law.

Back on topic. I'm OK with lowering the drinking age but I also think this country could benefit from an alcohol culture change. Too many people do things while drinking instead of drinking while doing things - if that makes any sense. In other words the drinking is the primary activity and the other things are secondary.
 

ILiftWithRoyce

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Feb 6, 2012
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We love cold beer, we love America, and say it with me WE LOVE THE CYCLONES now everybody sit back and enjoy your cyclones jukebox pick of the game
 

coolerifyoudid

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Feb 8, 2013
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In Iowa I'm pretty sure it is 21 by law. You can't even buy a lottery ticket unless you are 21 can you? Places like Meskwaki are 18 because they don't fall under Iowa law.

Back on topic. I'm OK with lowering the drinking age but I also think this country could benefit from an alcohol culture change. Too many people do things while drinking instead of drinking while doing things - if that makes any sense. In other words the drinking is the primary activity and the other things are secondary.

Interesting point in that last line, however the abuse of alcohol isn't co-dependent on level of activity. As a high schooler with nothing else to do, I certainly abused alcohol much more due to the lack of anything better to do. After that, I probably drank more at sporting events than just hanging out with a few friends. Maturity plays a big role.

But I've always been a social drinker. The whole drinking to get drunk thing was never really a goal of mine, even if that was the end result!
 

Al_4_State

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jbhtexas and CycloneErik are both non-drinkers who would probably prefer that there not be alcohol at all. That's not something that's going to happen since alcohol has been around as long as civilization, and whether they like it or not, many people have enriched their life with it. You can have a good life without it, but that doesn't mean that the government should force that on you.

We aren't debating whether alcohol should exist or not; we're debating whether or not the 21 year old drinking age is a good thing for this country. Most people seem to think it isn't. The rest of the civilized world agrees.
 
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klamath632

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Nov 19, 2011
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Everyone says "19 to keep it out of schools".

Want it out of schools? Make it illegal to possess on school grounds.

Better yet, don't keep it off school grounds. Arm every teacher with alcohol. Keeping it out of the hands of the good guys just makes it that much easier for the bad guys to win.