Supporters of the 21-year-old minimum drinking age ignore the fact that 18, 19, and 20-year-old adults are consuming alcohol, despite the law. The 21-year-old minimum drinking age has resulted in an underground society of young adults who flout the law — and rightly so.
The minimum drinking age is discriminatory based on age. It violates the Constitution by forcing the states to comply with the federal government — it should be treated with contempt by young adults.
The law insults young adults like Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown, a 19-year-old medic from Texas. She is only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest medal for valor.
Brown was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling in eastern Afghanistan in April 2007. A bomb struck one of the Humvees, which wounded five soldiers in her unit. Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, according to the U.S. military.
Monica Lin Brown is a courageous young woman and a bona fide war hero, but if she is caught quaffing a beer in her home state of Texas, she would be charged with a Class C misdemeanor. Her sentence would mandate a $500 fine, 8-to-12 hours of community service, her driver’s license would be suspended for 30 days, and she would have to attend a mandatory alcohol awareness course.
And that begs the question: how can supporters of the 21-year old minimum drinking age defend the notion that Ms. Brown should be subject to onerous legal sanctions for merely sipping a cold beer with friends or having a glass of wine with dinner?
Walter F. Wouk for Rabble Rouser
Filed under: Homeland Insecurity, Underage Drinking
