The Respect Issue

“Respect commands itself and it can neither be given nor withheld when it is due” –Eldrige Cleaver

The way I see it, the central tenet of the Missouri 18 to Drink initiative is respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Now find out what it means to me.

Love doesn’t make the world go ’round, respect does. Respect keeps us from taking other people out behind the woodshed even when we don’t like them very much. Just look at how many ways we express respect–respect their talents, respect their feelings, respect their space, etc. Society, especially in the PC world that we live in, seems to have great respect for everything.

I wonder if it is because we have all been in a situation where we weren’t respected. Think back to the last time someone disrespected you when it was uncalled for. Think about how it made you feel. It hurt, didn’t it?

This is what we are doing to an 18/19/20 year old every time they want to have a drink. We are saying to them “Sorry, I know you are an adult, but we just don’t respect you.” We knowingly deny them a right to do something that any adult should be able to do without a valid reason for doing so.

Why? Is it for health reasons? Fear of a rash of drunk drivers? Binge drinking? Each of these reasons have a degree of truth to them, but that doesn’t make them useful in this argument.

Yes, 15 year old drinkers are at more risk to become alcoholics–that’s why it is the Missouri 18 to Drink initiative. Drunk driving has decreased in the 16-20 age range. Better education and forethought of a DD has seen to that. Legal drinkers 21 and over don’t handle themselves much better than underage drinkers when it comes to binge drinking.

Maybe you can come up with a reason that I haven’t thought of that would make sense of a 21 drinking age. I am certainly open to suggestions.

While we’re waiting, let’s give respect a chance.

Take the Bar Exam

Don’t want to be a lawyer? Take the Bar Exam anyway. It’s silly and it’s educational. I thought I knew the answer to all of the questions, but there were a few surprises waiting for me.

Check it out. Just don’t try to practice law if you pass.

Drinking Permits???

I have to admit that when I read this article the idea of the drinking “learner’s permit” made me laugh out loud (and then look around furtively). I thought it was an absolutely absurd idea.

Then I finished the article and Dr. Park started to change my mind. I don’t see how it would work better, but any program that would promote alcohol education is a definite thumbs-up in my book.

Highway Funding

As I search around for news relating to the initiative, I almost always find a comment about the loss of highway funding to states that lower the drinking age. The vast majority of these comments state, or at least imply, that a state will lose all of it’s funding. That is simply not the case.

States who lower the drinking age may lose up to 10 percent of their highway funding. Not all of it. It is still a hit on the budget, but it’s not the entire budget.

The bigger issue is that there is no national law dictating drinking age, yet the federal government is still forcing states into age 21 minimum regardless of how the states feel. Even more unfortunate is that not a whole lot of people realize that this is happening.

Remember the Golden Rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules.

A Little More News

ABCNews’ Janelle Jolley has an article that *gasp* covers both sides of the issue.  It doesn’t focus on the Missouri initiative only, but it does raise good points both for and against lowering the drinking age.

A Little Opinion

Here is a little opinion piece that brings up some issues with the MO 18 initiative.

True, the initiative is going to cause a few problems when it comes into effect. But what change doesn’t cause other changes? This is an issue that seems like it could be solved with some simple solutions.