Minnesota Politicians Want To Stimulate Economy By Lowering Drinking Age
It’s not the best justification for lowering the drinking age I’ve ever heard, but add it to the pile of other good reasons.
State lawmakers in Minnesota are bringing forward a plan to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18, and even allowing those sixteen and seventeen to drink in bars in accompanied by their parents.
There are at least four state representatives who are backing the plan.
Tom Hackbarth, a Republican from District 48A said, “I think that bars and restaurants are having a difficult time right now with the smoking ban that went into place. I think with economic times the way they are, I’ve never opposed the drinking age being 18.”
At 18 you can serve in the military. You can be drafted into the military. You can move away from your parents. You can enter into contracts. If you commit a crime (including, ahem, underage drinking) you are charged as an adult and all convictions become public record.
But you can’t have a beer.
At the very least the drinking age should be 18. And I think it should be abolished entirely, because I am not at all convinced that postponing legal drinking until a time when the “kids” are living away from their parents and likely in a setting (like college) where they’re around a large number of other “kids” for whom it also just became legal to drink.
We’re fooling ourselves if we think the 21 drinking age is making us safer. We’re wasting law enforcement resources on enforcing it that could better be spent elsewhere.
Sometimes giving people more responsibility makes them more responsible. There are always going to be tragedies. There will always be fools who get themselves and others killed with their irresponsible actions. But we’re never going to make the world a perfect place.
