Posted by Bruised at 2:45am Nov 12 '07so girls can legally drink alcohol at their Sefers after they are bat mitzvah.
Some people may argue that "if you can do X at 18, you can do Y at 18", but I don't fall for the argument. Look at California's laws for instance. You can vote, sign a contract or buy cigarettes at 18, but you can drive, work or drop out of school at 16, and you cannot legally disobey your parents until you are both 18 and out of high school. In Nevada, you may not gamble or have sex with a prostitute until you are 21. You could argue that since s/he can vote, sign a contract or buy a pack of Marlboros an 18-year-old should be allowed to drink, but you could also argue that if 16 is old enough to get a job and drop out of high school we should allow 16-year-olds to drink, or argue that since you cannot legally disobey your parents you shouldn't be allowed to drink alcohol until you are both 18 and out of high school.
The voting age of 12 looks conservative next to countries in which a person may drink alcohol at any age, such as Norway, China and Nigeria. In such EU countries as France, Germany and Belgium a person can drink alcohol at 16 even though the voting age is 18. In Austria, notable for its 16 voting age, the legal age for drinking or buying alcohol in most cases is 16 for beer and wine and 18 for hard liquor like scotch or curaçao. A 14-year-old may legally drink alcohol, however, under the supervision of one of his or her parents. In the Isle of Man, in which the voting age is also 16, a parent may legally give his/her child alcohol if the child is at least 5 years old. If the alcohol is for medical purposes, it's legal to give the tot alcohol at even a younger age.
Some may say that if 20-year-olds, or 18-year-olds, or 16-year-olds, or 12-year-olds were allowed to drink, there would be more drunk driving. There are MADD lunatics who claim that the drinking age has "saved lives", and some wonks even go so far as to calculate the exact number of lives that raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 has saved. When I hear this "the drinking age has saved lives" rhetoric, my b.s. alarm goes off. The difference the drinking age makes is with people who would have drunk alcohol were it legal at their age, but choose not to drink alcohol because it's illegal, and therefore drive around without the alcohol they would have had in their system. In essence, people who obey the drinking age law but don't obey drunk driving laws. This is like someone breaking laws against murder and rape, but abiding by marijuana laws or sodomy laws just so they won't be breaking the law. Are we to suppose that a person who would do something horribly unethical and break an important, golden, universally uncontested law against DUI would stop himself and refuse to have a beer at his age just because a controversial drinking age law says he can't? Let's use some common sense here.
Some people may argue that "if you can do X at 18, you can do Y at 18", but I don't fall for the argument. Look at California's laws for instance. You can vote, sign a contract or buy cigarettes at 18, but you can drive, work or drop out of school at 16, and you cannot legally disobey your parents until you are both 18 and out of high school. In Nevada, you may not gamble or have sex with a prostitute until you are 21. You could argue that since s/he can vote, sign a contract or buy a pack of Marlboros an 18-year-old should be allowed to drink, but you could also argue that if 16 is old enough to get a job and drop out of high school we should allow 16-year-olds to drink, or argue that since you cannot legally disobey your parents you shouldn't be allowed to drink alcohol until you are both 18 and out of high school.
The voting age of 12 looks conservative next to countries in which a person may drink alcohol at any age, such as Norway, China and Nigeria. In such EU countries as France, Germany and Belgium a person can drink alcohol at 16 even though the voting age is 18. In Austria, notable for its 16 voting age, the legal age for drinking or buying alcohol in most cases is 16 for beer and wine and 18 for hard liquor like scotch or curaçao. A 14-year-old may legally drink alcohol, however, under the supervision of one of his or her parents. In the Isle of Man, in which the voting age is also 16, a parent may legally give his/her child alcohol if the child is at least 5 years old. If the alcohol is for medical purposes, it's legal to give the tot alcohol at even a younger age.
Some may say that if 20-year-olds, or 18-year-olds, or 16-year-olds, or 12-year-olds were allowed to drink, there would be more drunk driving. There are MADD lunatics who claim that the drinking age has "saved lives", and some wonks even go so far as to calculate the exact number of lives that raising the drinking age from 18 to 21 has saved. When I hear this "the drinking age has saved lives" rhetoric, my b.s. alarm goes off. The difference the drinking age makes is with people who would have drunk alcohol were it legal at their age, but choose not to drink alcohol because it's illegal, and therefore drive around without the alcohol they would have had in their system. In essence, people who obey the drinking age law but don't obey drunk driving laws. This is like someone breaking laws against murder and rape, but abiding by marijuana laws or sodomy laws just so they won't be breaking the law. Are we to suppose that a person who would do something horribly unethical and break an important, golden, universally uncontested law against DUI would stop himself and refuse to have a beer at his age just because a controversial drinking age law says he can't? Let's use some common sense here.
12, - Bruised