Re:Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18?
by sysop073 on Tuesday August 19, 2008 @07:36PM
(#280986)
It just annoys me that the age where you're "an adult" is completely subjective. It used to be you're an adult at 18, which should imply you're done with age restrictions, but no, you can't drink for three more years. But if you go to the movie theater or a fair and they charge more for adult tickets vs. kids tickets, suddenly you're an adult at age 12 in their eyes
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Should the US drinking age be lowered to 18?
by jacobolus on Tuesday August 19, 2008 @08:42PM
(#281047)
It’s certainly not completely subjective. These standards derive from completely differing causes:
Get drafted at 18: needs to be old enough to not enlist child soldiers, but young enough to have a reasonable pool of eligible men.
Vote at 18: pissed-off drafted soldiers got tired of being sent to war without any political power of their own.
Drink at 21: whether or not it’s empirically better, this is for public health and safety reasons.
Pay more for fair tickets at 13: this is up to the fair, and is based on profit maximization.