personally, i'm in favor of getting rid of a "legal" drinking age all together (well, that and a ton of other drug laws)... but not entirely because of those people under 21 (i live in the usa) who can't legally drink now. it's for those of us OVER 21 who are constantly hassled to show some id, to take a breathalyzer by some campus cop dickhead walkin the beat at 2 am when i am LEGALLY coming out of a bar and going home. i resent like hell the fact that i have to sign some kind of bloody form to buy a bottle of rum or a case of beer... and forget kegs. they wanna make it a law that you have to register a keg, and that the registration gives the cops permission to search your house without even suspecting you of a crime or a search warrant. this underage drinking prevention/criminalization and finding 'drug users' and 'drug dealers' is bad news for anybody who values their constitutional rights. it also takes cops off the street and away from areas where they're really needed.take for example, where i live. there've been four rapes of women in 2 months... probably, the cops think, by the same guy. they have a description, FOUR eyewitnesses who saw this asshole, and yet where are my tax dollars (which i've been paying since age 16, but i'll get to that) going? not to catch this rapist... not to investigate and find out who he is. no.. they busted 9 parties last weekend. they found a couple bongs in the dorm buildings. i feel so much safer now.
i got a job at 16, like someone else who posted. i paid taxes. 27\% of my paycheck. at the time, minimum wage was Ŭ.25. that don't leave me with much.... nor does it earn me a say in how my tax dollars get spent, which often times is to pay people to sit on their ass who DON'T have a job. so yeah, at 16, some of us are out there at mc d's tryin to earn some cash for what we want, and it's bein stolen from us to put it into someone else's pocket. great idea.
so in the usa..
at 16, you can drive.
at 16, you can get married (if your parents give you permission).
at 16, you can have sex.
at 18, you can vote.
at 18, you can get drafted and die.
at 18, you can get married.
at 21, you can have a beer.
somehow, i doubt that going out and gettin piss drunk is anywhere near as life changing as losing your vriginity, marriage, being drafted, being able to vote, or being able to have a job.. unless of course you're one of those morons who thinks it's a good idea to try for a .90 blood alcohol level and die.. but damn, it's not the government's job to protect people from their own stupidity.
so here it is. i'm over 18. i'm over 21. and i VOTE that the government stop using the exorbitant amount of money they steal from me to go bust people for having a little bit of personal fun, by drinkin some alcohol or by smoking some pot, and either give it back, or get their asses out there and do something worthwhile....
i hear there's still a serial rapist running around my neighbourhood..
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kuru
'if your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd kill you in your sleep.' -frank zappa
[This message has been edited by kuru (edited August 31, 2000).]
