What I don't understand is why its legal for elderly people to vote by mail in many states without any questions but not young people? Seems discriminatory and if anything its the young people who most benefit from mail in voting as they are working members of society.
It should be raised to whatever the drinking age is. So you can vote and potentially change the entire world by doing so but you cannot buy booze? Same with getting in the military. It doesn't make a lick of sense.
If the congress and POTUS can send you off to die in the name of the country, then yes you should get a say in that. Thus, voting at 18.
The two have literally nothing to do with each other.
The incarcerated should have the right to vote, period. If you're old enough to be in the military too. Alcohol? Different issue there. I don't think immature people should be drinkers, alcohol will not help them mature.
They have everything to do with each other.
The government can't force you to drink beer, but it can force you to die for the country (conscription)
How would the government force people to die for the country when there is currently no law that allows a draft at this time? The draft WAS nothing but a law, that was repealed after the Vietnam War. It would take an act of Congress to reinstate the draft, which would require a new law to be drafted. The draft is nothing more than a law, regulating how the military gets it's members, which is currently thru selective service (volunteer) per the law, just like the drinking age, is one of many ways of regulating alcohol use in this country. Laws that can be repealed, updated, or completely changed at any time by Congress. Technically, Congress could pass a law that requires every American adult to drink a glass of red wine per day because of the benefits, or what every reason they put forth. I am not saying it would pass constitutional scrutiny, that's a completely different argument. But thank you for demonstrating how the drinking age, voting, joining the military, etc are all go hand in hand.
Fenix said basically the same.
And if 18-20 year olds care that much, they can vote for a lower drinking age. A single vote rarely leads to death, underage drinking often does.
It takes one drunken night to kill a family drunk driving. It takes about 75,000,000 votes to elect a president.
Drinking a glass of red wine may have benefits (I don't believe this has been established), but ethyl alcohol is toxic, that has been established.
Whoosh!!! You not only are missing the point as well, you are also confused. That is apparent when you claim the Military is a moot point, because it's voluntary now. Being Voluntary doesn't matter. Everything we are talking about is all based on current laws, that can be changed by Congress at any moment. The drinking age can be changed, having a volunteer Military can change, even the voting age can be changed if Congress amends the constitution. But what this discussion boils down to, is really about is the basic maturity level of being capable of making rational decisions.. Be it consuming alcohol responsibly, joining the military, or voting. But making a rational decision also requires understanding fully of the consequences of that choice, which is part of maturity.. or is it? Unless a person has seen actual Combat, stood up on the line defending this country in real life and death situations, most don't fully grasp the full reality of the real consequences of that choice, this includes many who have joined the military.
The military intentionally recruits the young because they aren't fully mentally mature yet and suck at evaluating long term risks.
It wasn't "the point" I was addressing, just the implied notion that drinking a glass of red wine is salutary. A kind of aside.
But they are the same thing.. It's not a stupid comparison, and the value someone puts on alcohol has nothing to do with it. As I said before, they all require a basic level of maturity, which is what it's all about. Maturity is is having the ability to evaluate short and long term risks, the consequences (Good or bad), and what could happen from the choice they make, and making the correct choice. Non of which are black and white. That applies to consuming alcohol, that applies to voting, and it applies to joining and being in the Military. You are correct, however, the military exploits the lack of maturity to fill the ranks, but that doesn't change the fact that it still requires a basic level of maturity, whether the lack of maturity is being exploited or not.
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