The minimum age to vote, drive, and serve in the military in US - Research Paper Example

Introduction In US, a citizen is allowed to vote, drive, and serve in the military at the age of 18 and the legal age of taking alcohol is 21. The reason for having a voting age is to make sure that those who are eligible to vote have the required capacity to make a decision on how to vote independently with knowledge. The minimum voting age in US is 18. But before 1971, the legal voting age was 21, later on it was lowered to 18 due to several reasons that will be explained in this article. The age of issuing a driving license in US is also 18, at that age, you have a right to drive. Young adults from the age of 18 are allowed to join the military and defend the country, for example, during Vietnam War many young Americans from the age of 18 participated in the war. The legal age for alcohol consumption in US is 21, before 1984, the legal drinking age was 18 and it was later on changed in the course of the year to 21 through the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (Koroknay 2005). The drinking age was increased because of several reasons that I will also explain this article. Due to the changes in the ages, I believe it is unethical that the United States government allows its citizens to vote, drive, and serve in the military a full three years before they are allowed to consume alcohol. Before 1971, the voting age in US was 21, Senator Kennedy raise the matter of the age arguing that it is wrong for young adults to join the military and defend the country but they cannot vote since the minimum age of serving in the military during that time was 18. Kennedy receives overwhelming support from the senators and he took the mater to senate committee for constitution amendment. The bill passed and the age was reduced to 18. Another argument was that young adults pay taxes when they buy any item, some work and they are eligible to be given driving license, so why can’t they vote. Many school students across US during that time were lobbying for the voting age to be lowered to 18. The president of the nation youth’s rights association argued that in the society, young adults take part in many things such as paying taxes or being charged of crime so they should be allowed to vote. He went ahead and argued that if young adults are allowed to vote it will add real meaning and relevance to social studies and civics subjects in school which taught before the age of 18 (Christopher and Dobkin 2011). When the voting age is lowered, it is a liberal action, this is because it will create more opportunities for younger adults to have a say in the formation of the government. If the age is increased, it will become a conservative action because young adults will not have the wisdom and experience to know what is good for them (Christopher and Dobkin 2011). This change in voting age is just a change in the liberal direction and currently people are changing their attitudes towards equality and rights. The critics of the idea argued that young people lack the required level of knowledge and complexity to make informed decision on electing leaders; many believe that young people can be swayed easily by politician to vote for them irrespective of their character. One of the main critics about the idea was Curtis Gans who is the director of committee for the study of American Electorate (). He thought that it is a dumb idea if the voting age was lowered to 18 since at that age, a person can be drafted and die for the country. At the same time, young adults at the age of 18 lack life experience and do not understand the issues facing a country in details. In the American history, the right to vote has expanded vigorously to be more inclusive, and this come as a result of hard political battle by the disenfranchised group who are demanding for political representation. When US constitution was drafted in 1789, only the white people was allowed to vote and later the constitution was amended to allow the black vote (Traci, Toben, and Lenk 2009). In 1920, the 19th constitutional amendment allowed women to vote after a struggle from the civil societies and women organization. Later on in 1971, the voting age in US was reduced from 21 to 18 following the 26th constitutional amendment. The issues of lowering the voting age to 18 started gaining momentum in 1954 when President Eisenhower while giving a state of union address became the first US head of state to support lowering the voting age to 18. In 1970, President Nixon signed an extension of voting rights act of 1965 that demands that voting age in all federal, state and local elections is 18 years. Following this signing some states such as Oregon and Texas went to court to challenge it. The case involves Oregon v. Mitchell; the Supreme Court declared part of the law that sets the voting age to 18 for federal, state and local unconstitutional, the verdict was given by Justice Hugo Black. The Supreme Court ruling was not practical, if the government wants to leave the voting age at 21, they will have to come up with two voting registers one for federal and the other for state and local elections (Cultice 1992). Since it was not practical, the congress decided cut the ruling by introducing the 26 amendment to the constitution. Following this ruling, pressure starts mounting on state representatives and congress to amend the constitution to set the voting age to 18 because of Vietnam War where several young adults who were not eligible to vote were recruited to go and fight, hence having no means to influence the leaders who are recruiting them to go and risk with their lives (Robert and Benjamin 2011). Bowing to the public pressure, the 26 amendment was taken to the senate in 1971 and the vote in favor of amendment was 94 to 0. Within 4 months after the amendment was submitted by the congress to the state, it was ratified by three fourths of the states legislature and it was adopted (). Later on June the same year, there was a signing ceremony presided over by President Nixon in East room, he explained that he has confidence with the youths and he believes that the youths will change United States for the better. The amendment bars the state and federal governments from increasing the voting age above 18 years. The minimum drinking age in US was 18 and later on it was changed to 21 by National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. One of the main reasons why the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) was reduced was meant to curb the use of alcohol by young people. This is justified by the research showing that high MLDA results to decrease alcohol consumption and less traffic fatalities among those affected the MLDA law. In 1970s the drinking age was reduced to 18 and it provided natural experiments on the effects of drinking at certain age. A research conducted at that time shows that the traffic accidents caused by young adults as a result of alcohol consumption increased, following numerous accidents, the people urged the state to increase the minimum legal drinking age to 21. Following the pressure from the citizens, the federal governments enacted the uniform drinking age act, the act stipulated that if a state does not raise the drinking age to 21, the government will withhold federal highway fund. By the end of 1988, all states have increased the MLDA to 21. The debate surrounding the legal drinking age of 21 has been whether it will be beneficial at long last. Those for the idea of raising the drinking age to 21 claims that the law will decrease alcohol consumption in lifetime of a person since adolescent consumption is reduced which is believed to be setting the pattern for lifetime drinking. This is supported by the conducted research which shows that early consumption of alcohol will later lead to alcoholism in life and neuroscientist have found that early alcohol taking affects the brain development of young adults. A research conducted a cross the country by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse concluded that apart from other programs meant to reduce drinking among young adults, raising the MLDA to 21 looks like the most successful programs to be carried out. The heads of more than 135 colleges in US have been calling for the reduction of drinking age and they have signed a statement called amethyst initiative requesting the public to support an informed public debate without passion on the effects of raising the drinking age to 21 and invite new ideas on the best way to train young people to come up with responsible decision on alcohol drinking. In 1982, President Reagan for a Presidential Commission Against Drunk Driving, the commission came up with 39 recommendations that will help stop drunk driving problem (Henry and Nelson 2010). All recommendations were meant to be a comprehensive approach with the aim of lowering the number drinking related incidents on the roads. Recommendation number 8 was about minimum legal purchasing age and requires that all states in the country increases the alcohol consumption age to 21, otherwise if the state do not abide by the recommendation it will not get a certain amount of federal highway fund. 2 years later in 1984, there was extensive lobbying from organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD); President Reagan signed officially the National Minimum Drinking Age Act setting the minimum alcohol consumption age at 21 (Scott 2013). MADD was a vigorous movement that was started by Candy Lightner in 1980 in response to the death of her 12 years old daughter who was hit by a drunk driver. Candy testimony in the senate sub committee on the bill played a crucial role in making the congress support the bill. The federal law provides some exception from the original law. This means that if a state legislate a law that is exception to the 21 years age, it will not loose federal highway funding. This provision has resulted in inconsistency in the country such that some states allow teenagers who are below the recommended age of 21 to drink. Driving license in US are issued by individual state and not the federal government, this is because of the political concept of federalism (Ives 2001). Each state issues license for its citizens and every state recognize one another license for visitors in relation to age requirements. A state has powers to suspend a driver within its borders if he violates traffic rules. The class of commercial licenses is put on standard by federal laws. For minors between the age of 14 and 15years, they are given hardship license with the consent of their parents as a result of some hardships like medical or financial problems. Hardship license for teens are different from the hardship license given to adults whose license have been revoked. The minimum age a person can get unrestricted license in US varies between 14 and 17 according to the state laws (AAA Releases Information about Teen Driving 2013). South Dakota is the state that offers unrestricted license at the youngest age while New Jersey offers at the oldest age of 17. In many states except South Dakota, they have a graduated licensing law which applies to young people, who are newly licensed. This graduate license goes by the names such as provisional driver, junior operator, or intermediate license, the license offers some restriction like the number of passengers one can carry. Teenagers below the age of 18 are supposed to attend a full driving course in high school or driving school and learn a number of behind the wheel classes with a driving instructor before being issued with a license (AAA Releases Information about Teen Driving 2013). In a state like Minnesota, drivers below the age of 16 require a person with a driving license in the car. According to the federal law, for a driver to be allowed to drive a school bus, he/she must have attained the age of 25, at the same time the federal law also puts the minimum age for driving a commercial vehicle in interstate at 21 years. Professional drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 are not allowed to drive tractors or hazardous materials. Driving age should be a federal law rather than a state law, this is because it would help standardize identification and decrease confusion. Different states offer different licenses which create room for confusion and ability for teenagers to purchase alcohol through cashiers who does not know what a valid license from different states look like. There are more than 50 different driving licenses in US and it is hard for citizen to know how every state license look like. If the entire driving license was the same, it could have been easier to identify a fake one. At the same time, it will lower different types of scams such as using fake license for identity theft. It could have been easier to track federal license unlike state license for those who have and those who are not allowed to have. Issuing of license by states will not provide for comprehensive and the same method for giving and tracking across all the states. When different standards are used in issuing the driving license teenagers can choose states who can qualify to have a license even if they are not residing in those states. It is also hard to track license since different states have different databases which might not be compatible with each another. Those supporting federal government offering the license argues that it will help save lives. Traffic accidents are number one killer of young adults in US. Many believe that several lives could be saved if uniform driving laws for teenagers are formed. The government has proposed a bill that will set nationwide standards for issuing licenses to young adults. Under the proposed law, teenagers should be allowed to drive from the age of 16 under restrictions and would be issued with unrestricted license at the age of 18. The law also makes it not legal for young adults to drive at night or make a phone call while driving. It is not right for the government to allow its citizens to vote, drive, and serve in the military a full three years before they are allowed to drink. If a person is mature enough to fight it means he/she is capable of handling himself when he is drunk. In the military, if there is war teenager can kill, now come it is legal to kill and not consume alcohol. At the age of 18, a person is legally an adult so he/she should be allowed to drink. In other countries such as Australia, drinking age is 18 while in UK it is as low as 16 in some restaurants. If it has been allowed in those countries why not US, a research conducted in those countries have shown that those teens are okay. Dr. Ruth who is a professor at Indiana state university argued that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 and the teenagers be allowed to drink in controlled environment like restaurants or schools. In controlled environments, responsible consumption of alcohol could be taught through education and role modeling, with that mature and reasonable alcohol consumption behavior will be developed (Naor and Nashold 1975). With drinking age at 21, teenagers below the age of 21 will try to access alcohol and take in irresponsible manner since drinking by these youths will be like enticing forbidden fruit or a rebellion against those in authority. There is a belief that teenagers below the age of 21 have less tolerance. This might be true to a certain level, but they are capable of handling themselves in the military that is why drinking age should be lowered. Tolerance does not come with age, it comes with realization of responsibility, and it has been found that there are people who are more responsible at 16 than those who are at 40s (On Raising the Age for Military Service 2013). There are several problems related to alcohol consumption irrespective of the age. Making the legal drinking age to be 21 will not solve the problems. In conclusion it is unethical that the United States government allows its citizens to vote, drive, and serve in the military a full three years before they are allowed to consume alcohol. If an 18 year ole teen according to the law is considered an adult who can commit crime and be tried in a court of law, this means that a person below the age of 21 is in a position of making every other decision in their own, so a decision to drink should also be allowed. References Alex Koroknay. History of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Youth truth. 2005, Vol. 1(5). "AAA Releases Information about Teen Driving." Travel & Leisure Close - Up (2012)ProQuest. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. Carpenter, Christopher, and Carlos Dobkin. The Minimum Legal Drinking Age and Public Health. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2011, Vol. 25(2), P.133-5600 Kaestner, Robert and Yarnoff, Benjamin. “Long-Term Effects of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Laws on Adult Alcohol Use and Driving Fatalities” Journal of Law and Economics , Vol. 54, No. 2 (May 2011), pp. 365-388 Naor EM and Nashold RD. Teenage driver fatalities following reduction in the legal drinking age. Journal of Safety Research. 1975, Vol. 7:74–9 Noah Ives. Minimum Drinking Age: Does Evidence Support Lowering it from Age 21? Population health institute. 2001, Vol. 8(3). "On Raising the Age for Military Service." The Economist (Online) Sep 29 2010ProQuest. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. Toomey, Traci L., Toben F. Nelson, and Kathleen M. Lenk. The age-21 minimum legal drinking age: a case study linking past and current debates. 2009. Walters, Scott T. "If the Drinking Age were Lowered, what then? A View from the Year 2020." Journal of American College Health 58.6 (2010): 579-81. ProQuest. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. Wechsler, Henry, and Toben F. Nelson. "Will Increasing Alcohol Availability by Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences among Youths?" American Journal of Public Health 100.6 (2010): 986-92. ProQuest. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. Wendell, Cultice, Youth’s Battle for the Ballot: A History of Voting Age in America, New York: Greenwood Press, 1992. Read More