I, personally. have lived with a 21 year-old drinking age here in California all my life. But I would drink at Keesler AFB’s enlisted club at 17, and Castle AFB’s enlisted club at 18 without a problem. Before I joined the service, I could buy booze at several local liquor stores without a problem. Of course, that was a “simpler” time.

Today, enforcement is far more rigid, and organizations such as MADD are pushing for a nationwide 21 year-old drinking age. But yet, 1/2 our high schoolers drinks at least once a month. Radley Balko makes a strong argument against this ill-conceived policy:

Seems to me that MADD’s actions here are far more nefarious than its usual statistical tomfoolery, junk science, and lobbying against common criminal protections for DWI defendants. Here, MADD’s zero tolerance bullshit will mean dead teens.

Changing the legal drinking age to 21 hasn’t stopped college or high school aged kids from drinking.

We live in a society based upon the concept of government by consent. In this case, it should be obvious that a majority of those subject to this prohibition do not consent to it.