Wednesday 8 November 2006

Should adults be allowed to drink?

I could write another pithy post on how wrong it would be to ban eighteen- and nineteen- year-old drinkers from pubs, but since the good Dr Goode from the Libertarianz has already said every thing I'd want to say, I'll point you to what he's said.

"Should adults be allowed to drink," he asks. And that's the whole question really, isn't it -- and when put that way, the answer is fairly obvious. Of course adults should be, and if they don't think adults are up to it then let's see them either take all rights away from adults as well, or all adult rights away from all eighteen and nineteen year-olds. Let's see them also vote to raise the driving age, the voting age, the marrying age, the age of consent, and the age for joining the military-- in short, the age for taking responsibility for our own lives since the clear view expressed in a negative vote will be that no eighteen and nineteen year-old is mature enough to think for themselves.

But when would these politicians consider anyone is mature enough to get our from under Nanny's skirts? Perhaps they should just raise the drinking age to forty-one and have done with it altogether?

UPDATE: Keep It 18 have Twelve Good Points for keeping it 18.

LINKS: Should adults be allowed to drink - Dr Richard Goode, Libertarianz
Select Committee supports raising drinking age to 41 - Lyndon Hood, Scoop

RELATED: Beer & Elsewhere, Libertarianism, Politics-NZ, Libz

2 comments:

phil_style said...

I notice that point 10 on the 12 points to keep the age at 18 page metions that our drinking culture is the real issue here. And I agree,

But who's going to pay/ educate for change? I can't see the breweires fronting up with the cash. . . And it would seem that Government and education don't have such a fantasic track record . .

Anonymous said...

I was livid when I heard about the bill on the news and elated when I heard on Nightline last night that it failed. The bill is a blatant rights violation. Sadly they ahve other measure. Hasn't it occured to them that the best way to cure a drinking problem culture is campaigns against it and educating people? Assuming people want to listen to the campaigns and education that is. If not nothing we can do would stop them. The irrational will always be such until they come to the conclusion on their own that they are acting to their own destruction.

To like a little bit of alcohol in celebration of your life and its continuation is OK, as long as it isn't taken to the point of getting drunk. Especially not the intention of getting drunk the way many people do.

Also, I personally think that there should be NO minimum drinking age as such a thing is a blatant rights violation.