Guest Column:
Missouri 18 to Drink
Published Oct. 12, 2007
I started this movement in Missouri because I believe fighting for freedom and fighting for civil liberties is the noblest cause. Liberty is the most important basic principal this country was founded on. Our founding fathers understood that you could not make people safer by taking away their freedoms.
Parents must be responsible and make decisions for their children until they become adults. This is especially true when it comes to alcohol consumption.
Thankfully, the law makes purchase and possession of alcohol by a minor illegal. The law also makes providing alcohol to a minor illegal, except by a parent.
This allows parents to teach responsible alcohol consumption in the home. Missouri's alcohol law is more permissive than other states because it does not forbid consumption by a minor. Allowing parents to be responsible for their children's alcohol consumption is an important parental right that should be preserved.
But when children become 18, they are responsible for themselves. They will typically move out of the parents' home. They might purchase their own home at this point (taking on the responsibility of a large amount of debt in their own name) and get married without their parents' permission. They are allowed to choose to vote, and they can fight in the military and possibly die for their county.
People who are 18 years old should also be able to purchase alcohol if they so choose. They should have all the rights and liberties other adults have. Requiring parental supervision of these adults' alcohol consumption, as the law does, is unrealistic and morally wrong. Eighteen-year-olds are their own legal guardian, so it is a contradiction for the law to only allow them to drink if a parent or legal guardian provides it to them.
The law does affect their perception of alcohol. Prohibition glamorizes alcohol and sends the message that drinking alcohol makes you more of an adult.
The sub-culture of illegal drinking encourages binge drinking, drinking games and pre-gaming, which involves drinking before going into a public setting. Pushing the alcohol consumption behind closed doors means our young adults do not learn to drink in a social, responsible way.
I believe in young adults. If we treat them like adults and hold them responsible for their actions, they will make responsible decisions and will have more respect for the law. We cannot pretend that 18- to 20-year-olds do not drink, nor can we turn a blind eye to the drinking as long as they are able to hide it from their parents and law enforcement. Encouraging parents to teach abstinence-only alcohol education to their children is worse than ignoring the problem altogether. It is unrealistic and irresponsible.
Give 18-year-olds a voice in the political process and end the apathy. We must stand up for the civil liberties of all adults. It is safer to bring the drinking out from behind closed doors, and it is morally the right thing to do. It is time to lower the drinking age to 18.
michael@missouri18todrink.org
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