Its Time to Lower the Drinking Age :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

In the United States, it is illegal to consume alcohol until the age of twenty-one. At the age of eighteen people are considered adults. â€Å"The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen-years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age (Amendment 26, Section 1 of the Constitution). At the age of eighteen, a person can get married, vote, drive, take out loans, pay taxes, buy tobacco, have sex, be tried as an adult, have children, use credit cards, buy real estate, act independently of parents and be in the armed forces and die for their country. If we look at Vietnam War, half of the soldiers that fought in that war were under the age of twenty-one, and a lot of them were 17 to 19 years old. Yet that person still can not drink alcohol. Also we can smoke when we are eighteen. Smoking kills just as many people if not more than drinking. Smoking causes cancer, and many more conditions compared to drinking that causes liver problems only after sever abuse of it. Smoking has many chemicals including carbon monoxide which is so poisonous that we have alarms in our house that detect it, but we can smoke and not drink. We can vote when we are eighteen. We vote for bills and bonds that change our lives. We can vote for the senators and the entire Congress that propose laws that govern our society. We vote for the President who is the commander of millions of troops whom he can send to their deaths in a minute’s warning. It is imperative that the drinking age be lowered to the age of eighteen. The drinking age must be lowered t o the age of eighteen because this age would be consistent with other responsibilities that the government ____ grants eighteen-year-olds. For instance, at the age of eighteen, a person is liable to be in the armed forces. If a person is being trusted to fight or even possibly die for their country, it seems a lot less crucial to trust them with an alcoholic beverage. To add to the fact of dying for their country, these people are being counted on to kill other humans. This seems unreasonable that a person is liable to take on an adult’s job, that involves the future of the country, and still be unable to enjoy an activity that other adults are allowed to participate in.