land of the nosy bossy people
Everyone in this country —
Wants to tell everyone else what to do. What god to worship, what person to marry, what food to eat, what drugs to take, what to drink, what to smoke, what to wear, what to drive, what gun to own, what books to read, what websites to visit, what movies to see, what television to watch, what radio to listen to — cripes, people. How about everyone just go worry about their own freaking god/marriage/food/drugs/drink/smoke/clothes/car/gun/books/internet/movies/television/radio and leave mine alone?
PS: While we are at it, what is the freaking story on 21 years of age drinking laws? If you are a “legal adult” at 18 and can get married, pay taxes, and pick up a gun and DIE for your country, you ought to be able to legally decide for yourself whether or not to drink an alcoholic beverage.
3 Responses to land of the nosy bossy people
Hi max!
Re: 21-years-of-age drinking laws
From memory (Wikipedia probably knows for sure)…
21-years-of-age drinking laws were originally 18-years-of-age, but there was a big push in the 80s over drunk driving, probably led by MADD. The federal government threatened to withhold federal highway funds for any state that didn’t raise it to 21 (or wait, I think that was part of the story of the 55 mph speed limit in the 70s? maybe it was true for both).
I was just turning 18, living in Maryland near Washington DC, and Maryland and Virigina had raised it to 21 but DC was holding out (DC has no federal highways, despite DC’s budget being completely controlled by the feds so I’m not sure this story makes sense, but that’s my memory of it). Two “kids” from Bowie MD went into DC to drink, drove home, were driving over the speed limit on the shoulder of the Beltway and ran into a parked car and died, and within weeks (I think) DC’s age was raised to 21. (Anyone who was already 18 or over was grandfathered in, though, so we could still continue to buy alcohol in DC anyway.)
Also, I believe there is an exception that allows under-21-ers in the military to drink (maybe just on military bases).
I don’t care what the history of it is. It’s stupid and wrong. You get to say people are legal adults at 18, or you get to say they are legal adults at 21. So drop the drinking age, or raise the military service/legal consent to sex and marriage/tried and sentenced as an adult age. Pick one, you can’t have both.
It’s easier to not focus on your own issues if you’re bossing people about. I notice that happy people offer help and advice, but never seem tell you what you should do.