It was a disaster last time they lowered it.  HOWEVER, if you are in the military, you should get an exemption. They used to let soldiers drink on base...........

I'm "ag'in" it. What's the deal with binge drinking? Do they think something like, "Let's drink all we can before we get caught."?  Or, "If we hurry we can get done before your mom gets home."
What do you mean 18 year-olds can make responsible decisions? They get married don't they? Cleric reminded me of a saying back when we were in high school, "If you drink, don't "park", accidents cause people."
" Would this affect the teenage pregnancy rate?" Probably not much. They get pregnant years before age 18.
Aprill, my first taste wasn't ON my 21st b-day. In fact, that one found me cold sober. I was making home brew in the eighth grade and took it to school in a long necked vanilla bottle. The guys lined up in the boys' room between classes holding out their folded conical Dixie Cups and swigged a few ounces. Someone said, "The teachers thought it was a lark because "He couldn't possibly have anything but colored water in that bottle."

Hmm... my wife and I had talked about this a few weeks back. We had questions about this. Ones like:

- What would this do to everyone's insurance rates? Would they increase even for those of use who do not drink?

- Would this affect the teenage pregnancy rate?

- I see they want to curb "binge" drinking, but what about regular drinking?

- Do the universities want all the binging to happen earlier so they do not have to deal with them when they are their responsibility? (Sort of the whole get it out of your system and once it's legal it is not as attractive kind of thing)

In any case, if you lower the drinking, why not raise the driving age? Or why not make the consequences much more severe and permanent. I personally do not see how lowering the age would accomplish their goal.

Granted, I understand the argument about being old enough to do some things but not others, but IMO that point has nothing to do with wanting to stop binge drinking on campus as they just do not want to be liable. Nor do I think that being able to drink should be a motive to join the military. Of course I could see the commercials now. "Get money for college, learn valuable job skills, and be able to get hammered every day! JOIN NOW! Another thing, unless you were drafted, joining the military was a choice, so it is not like, "I was drafted into the (insert branch of service) so I deserve to drink!"

What about the Fort Bliss Army base here in the Lone Star State that earlier this year on May 22nd raised the drinking limit from 18 to 21 citing excesses in fighting, drunken-driving, and arrests to raise it?  Yeah, hardy har har that it was named Fort "Bliss"  and you could drink that young.  *yawn*

Or how about this story about how in Britain where the legal is 18 (correct me if I am wrong) that children ages 11-14 are being treated for drinking problems.

There are a lot more  that I could cite, but I don't get paid to so I won't, hehe.  :-P

To me, lowering the age would just cause kids to grow up faster than they are now.  It is scary and disgusting to see how parents allow their daughters to dress....but that is another rant for another time.  lol

I believe if you are 18 and considered an adult by law you should be able to make adult decisions.  I think if the age was lowered there might be problems the first couple years because teens would be excited that they can now drink at a younger age, but after a few years it wouldn't be so exciting.  It seems like I wanted to drink more when I wasn't of age.  Also today many 18 year olds are so imature, hopefully they would start acting like adults. 
At 18 you should be able to do everything as an adult.  Truth is some people are responisble enough, and some aren't no matter what their age.
I graduated high school and worked construction at 18.  I worked all day like an adult, I'd like to enjoy a cold one in the evening as one.

I DRANK WAY MORE PRIOR TO MY 21st BIRTHDAY THAN I EVER DO NOW.  CHANGE THE LEGAL DRINKING AGE AND THERE WOULD BE LESS BINGE DRINKING

I'm glad you waited until AFTER your 21st birthday to taste alcohol for the first time.  Uhhh, that IS what you meant when you said your first taste wasn't on your birthday...isn't it?
I've never thought the almost adult age split here makes much sense.  At eighteen, you can enter into contracts.  You can join the military and fight, kill or be killed for your country.  You can vote and enter into contracts.  You have all the rights and responsibilities of an adult except you can't drink alcohol.   I'm not saying that I think that drinking by eighteen-year-olds is a good idea.  I am saying that if our society has determined that at eighteen, you are an adult then you should be an adult in all that entails.  If an eighteen or nineteen-year-old drives after drinking and causes an accident, he will go to jail and be sued by the victim or his survivers just like any other adult. 

I'm old enough to remember when they lowered the drinking age to 18 in the 1970s. The argument was that we were old enough to vote and old enough to fight in Vietnam, we should be allowed to drink. It wasn't the smartest thing our lawmakers did. There was a lot of alcohol abuse among that age group and finally the Texas Legislature raised the limit back to 21. That doesn't stop some, but I think people are a little more responsible at that age.

BTW, you parole officer said to tell you hey.