...Voting Age In 1870 the fifteenth amendment was passed granting suffrage to men of color. Fifty years later the nineteenth amendment was passed granting suffrage to women, and another fifty years after that the twenty sixth amendment gave eighteen year olds right to vote. All of these amendments were steps toward ending discriminating, but the United States has one last step. If the America is going to truly provide equal representation for all people then it ought to grant suffrage to those of age 16 and up. Before proposing that the voting age should be lowered it is necessary to examine the arguments of those opposed. Those opposed to lowering the voting age make three main arguments. The first being that teens under the age of 18 lack the maturity and brain development to make an informed decisions for themselves. The second argument contends that voter turnout among young people is already dismal and lowering the voting age would have negligible effects. The last argument claims that there is no valid reason...
Words: 852 - Pages: 4
...Today, the consumption of alcohol by anyone under the age of 21 is generally illegal across the United States; however, there are some states that have exceptions allowing underage consumption of alcohol in certain circumstances. Underage drinking is allowed if done on private premises with parental consent or for religious purposes. In Ruth Engs’ opinion, based upon her research, “as a nation we have tried prohibition legislation twice in the past for controlling irresponsible drinking problems. This was during National Prohibition in the 1920’s and State Prohibition during the 1850’s. These laws were finally repealed because they were unenforceable and because the backlash towards them caused other social problems. Today we are repeating history and making the same mistakes that occurred in the past. Prohibition did not work then and prohibition for young people under the age of 21 is not working now” (Engs). On many campuses around the country, led by the so-called Amethyst Initiative, the legal drinking age continues to be a controversial issue since it is believed that “twenty-one is not working” (Sanghavi). The old familiar argument is that turning 18 bestows the rights and responsibilities of adulthood such as voting, serving on juries, getting married, signing contracts, joining the military, buying cigarettes, watching porn and upon prosecution, trial as an adult. If adults from the age of 18 are trusted to do all of these things, they should also be trusted...
Words: 1770 - Pages: 8
...The legal drinking age should be lowered in the United States. This makes the most sense because kids legally become an adult at the age of 18 where they are granted other rights as well, such as the ability to enlist in the army. If we are legally an adult and trusted to protect our country we should be trusted with a couple of drinks. Lowering the drinking age also decreases unsafe drinking in regulated environments and less drunk driving accidents. With regulated drinking kids become more aware with their alcohol tolerance and get used to it in a safe environment without doing it illegally. This creates a safer environment for everyone. With kids more aware of their intake of alcohol less accidents such as drunk driving will happen. The is why the drinking age should be lowered to the age of when you actually become an adult. Kids legally become an adult at the age of 18. At this time in your life you receive the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. Some examples of the choices that you might or can make are enlisting in the army, voting for president, buying lottery tickets...
Words: 1036 - Pages: 5
...this amendment was that eighteen-year-olds were being drafted and putting their lives on the line, but could not vote for the President of their country in which they were fighting for. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment lowered the age in which boys could be drafted and vote from twenty-one to eighteen and is...
Words: 840 - Pages: 4
...In July 2009, eight people died in a car accident caused by a thirty year old mother who was driving with her 5-year-old son, his sister and their three cousins from Long Island. The intoxicated mother crashed into another car containing two men and a boy. The only person who survived was the son of the mother while his sister and cousins were burned to death. In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which required all states to raise their drinking age from 18 to 21. By doing this the United States planned to decrease the number of deaths due to intoxication. This method has had positive effects but some people plan to change this current law because they feel that if young adults are allowed to vote they should be allowed to drink. It is proven that there are countless...
Words: 1781 - Pages: 8
...research paper Why Not Change the Drinking Age Back to 18? In the United States of America you are considered a legal adult at the age of 18 years old. You have all the major rights of a fully grown adult, voting, enlisting in the military, buying a house, buying tobacco products and many more. However there is one right that was taken away from the 18 year old adult back in 1984. In 1984 the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was put into place which changed the legal minimum drinking age from 18 years old to 21. Does this law mean that you are not really a mature adult until you are 21 or should the drinking age be brought back down to 18 when you receive all the other rights of a mature adult. It makes perfect sense that this right should be returned to young adults for plenty of reasons and also holds potential solutions to one of the nation’s biggest alcohol related problems. What does it mean to be an adult? United States law states that you are legally considered an adult at the age of 18. It makes sense right? You can buy a house, enlist in the U.S. military, get married and loads of other rights you don’t have until the age of 18. But United States law also states that all states must enforce a legal minimum drinking age of 21. We are the only major nation to have such a high drinking age. The drinking age wasn’t always this high though. On July 17th 1984 the national minimum drinking age act was passed which meant that 18 year old young adults could no longer legally...
Words: 2220 - Pages: 9
...Essay 2 Rough Draft Writing 123 Enthymeme: The minimum legal drinking age in the United States should not be lowered from 21 to 18 because the legal drinking age is in place to protect young people at a time when irresponsible behavior is prevalent. The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Debate Since 2008, 136 college chancellors and presidents have signed the Amethyst Initiative, asking that the United States reconsider the minimum legal drinking age-21 (MLDA-21) laws that have been in place in all 50 states since 1984. The Amethyst Initiative argues that the MLDA-21 laws simply do not work, create a culture of binge-drinking, and that a policy of legalization and education would be more effective in protecting the safety of American adolescents. Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, the president of Sweet Briar College in Virginia and Amethyst Initiative signatory writes that 70 percent of the student population is underage. Teaching abstinence to students that blatantly ignore the MLDA-21 laws, or urging responsible behavior while drinking underage and breaking the law, are both hypocritical positions for the college administration to be in (Muhlenfeld 2). The Amethyst Initiative position is that current MLDA-21 laws have created a culture of heavy alcohol use by making drinking clandestine and extreme (Saylor 1). The statistics seem to back up this claim. Recent survey's of the 18-20 year old population by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that a full 72 percent report...
Words: 2399 - Pages: 10
...the lowest voting turning out rate than any other generation in history has been a question political analyst have been trying to determine for years. Millennials between 18 and 29 years old are approximately 550 million, yet they fail to out number the older generations during elections (Matta and Martin 1). Now, for the upcoming 2016 Presidential Election, it will be the first time the Millennial eligibility voting population will equal that of Baby Boomers. Investigating the reason for the absence of Millennials at the voting polls during the last decade of elections is important because if organized they are capable of having a major influence in shaping the government. When investigating...
Words: 2088 - Pages: 9
...United States in 2015 (Forbes, 2015). The level of stress within this job which Forbes describes is why service members would like to relax at home and have the opportunity to enjoy a few alcoholic beverages of choice. Unfortunately, all under-aged military individuals cannot partake in such activities because of laws that are set upon the United States. Giving under-aged military individuals the benefit to drink facilitates post-traumatic anxiety issue, diminishes risky drinking action and brands them into great grown-ups. Imagine being 18, a recent graduate, in Afghanistan fighting a war. What do you see? In case impacts, destruction, wounds, blood, and lost limbs are what you imagine happens majority of the time, you are correct. How would you deal with living in constant fear of your life? You would take a seat and have a taste of your most loved sort of cognac, whiskey, or wine to overlook a few memories. Americans who are of legal age considers that having a drink is a preferred way to end a frantic day. Unfortunately, these...
Words: 1962 - Pages: 8
...Low status of women in society, high degree of illiteracy and denial of basic amenities to the rural folk has been a result of unawareness among the masses about their rights and privileges. The schemes framed by the government for their benefit never reach the needy. The educated youth should initiate steps to teach the illiterate people in their neighborhood. They could teach them elementary reading and writing and also educate them about hygiene and the need for cleanliness. They should also be informed about the harmful effects of drinking, smoking and chewing tobacco. The government has become conscious of the need to tap the youth power. With the lowering of the voting age to 18 years, the youth have suddenly become politically important because they can decisively tilt the political scales in a general election. Realizing this, all the political parties are trying to woo the youth by including the issues relating to the youth in their political agenda. The youth should not become a pawn in the hands of the politicians, but should remain judicious. The youth should cast their vote after serious deliberations on the character and policies of the politicians. Undoubtedly, in the India of tomorrow the youth are going to play a decisive role in choosing their leaders. The youth are the most vital human resource of the nation on whom the present and future of the country depend. The Department of Youth Affairs and Sports is implementing a number of schemes for youth development...
Words: 322 - Pages: 2
...MLDA to 18 For years upon years there has been a huge debate on whether or not the minimum legal drinking age should be twenty one or eighteen. In the year of 1980 a law was passed that changed the minimum legal drinking age from eighteen to twenty one in order to decrease the amount of car crashes and fatalities and to keep alcohol out of the hands of an "irresponsible" age group (Ruth Streeter). Since the raising of the drinking age, more harm has been done than good and the drinking age should be lowered back down to eighteen, given some restrictions and changes. While each state was given the option of whether or not to support this act, the government threatened to cut highway funds if the states kept their drinking age to eighteen. It is strange that an eighteen to twenty year old can vote for our Nation's leader, risk their life fighting for our freedom, and be viewed as an adult, yet still cannot sit down and have a few drinks. At the age of eighteen one is considered an adult. This title of "adult" basically gives people the opportunity to make life changing decisions like voting, buying tobacco products, getting married, signing contracts, serving on juries, having abortions, and being drafted into or joining the military. Scientists claim that the pre-frontal cortex of the brain in which controls judgment is not fully developed until the mid twenties, which then leads to people against lowering the drinking age to claim that opportunities new "adults" take on are...
Words: 2592 - Pages: 11
...Brian Basic Should the Drinking age be reduced? The drinking age goes way back in history. Drinking began to be considered a problem around the 1900’s. When the government decided to pass the 18th amendment in 1919 alcohol became prohibited throughout the United States. This amendment forced all alcohol underground. The crime rate started to rise drastically throughout the country. The crime rate rose because people were buying and selling alcohol illegally. As a result of all the problems evolved, in 1923 the 23rd amendment repealed the 18th amendment abolishing the banning of alcohol from the United States. That established the modern drinking age, but the age was not the same in all of the states. The states government had the freedom of being able to assign what they felt were a good age for people to start the consumption of alcohol. Most of the states chose the age of twenty-one, but several states allowed the purchase of beer to be at eighteen. "The political failure of general Prohibition meant that American adults would increasingly focus justifications for alcohol policy less on the perils of drunkenness and more on the tenuous concept that adults can drink properly but youths cannot or should not" (Males 190). This lead to much discussion over the drinking age and the debate will go on for years to come. Throughout this debate, it lead to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, which lowered the United States drinking age to eighteen. After this act was...
Words: 4715 - Pages: 19
...The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required that all States prohibit people under the age of twenty one from purchasing or publicly possessing alcohol beverages. This act is currently a law in all 50 states. This is a debate about whether or not should the national drinking age should remain at the age of twenty one or if it should be lowered to the age of eighteen. With this topic having many concerns, like health, having the minimum alcohol consumption lowered to the age of eighteen would give a sense of adulthood that should, so to speak, follow up with turning eighteen years old on ones birthday. With that, the age limit to purchase and consume alcohol should be lowered to the age of 18 in the United States. In the United States, adulthood begins at the age of eighteen. Some would say that with age also comes with responsibilities. In the United States turning eighteen means becoming a legal adult with new and different rights, responsibilities, and privileges from those of minors. Such privileges as having voting rights, ability to get legally married, legally sign contracts and other legal documents, have the ability to buy and smoke tobacco products, join the military and much more things without the consult of a parent because one is considered to be an adult at that age (ProCon). A drinking age of twenty one is an embarrassment to a supposedly liberty-loving nation. If you are old enough to enlist and old enough to vote, you are old enough to swill cheap...
Words: 1609 - Pages: 7
...Should Abortion be Legal? PHI 103 Should Abortion be legal? Part I: Thesis As we approach a presidential election, a hot topic has been abortion. The candidates have announced their stance of either being pro-choice or pro-life. Many people have based their choices on who they will vote for based on this stance, especially women. The United States of America was founded by those fleeing from religious persecution. In an article from the News Mail Bundaberg, the writer wrote that they did not “believe abortion should be used as a lazy form of contraception, but nor do I believe women's bodies should be legislated. Some say abortion is "playing God", but then so is all medicine” (unknown, 2010) Legalizing abortion guarantees that women receive the basic right to choose what happens with their own reproductive systems. Part II: Argument The right to choose is a big deciding factor in agreeing that abortion should be legal. There are certain instances in which a woman should be able to choose if they would like to continue with their pregnancy. For example, if a woman was raped and became pregnant, they should be able to choose whether or not they would like to have that child. Otherwise, they will end up with a child that they have to take care of that will be a constant reminder of that rape. Another instance is incest. If a woman is pregnant and the fetus is fathered by a family member, that woman should have a right to choose if they would like to have that child or...
Words: 1736 - Pages: 7
...The Vietnam Conflict Introduction It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons why the U.S. became involved in the Vietnam Conflict. Perhaps one of the more convincing reasons can be attributed to the strong disdain most Americans had for Communism. The U.S. government feared that Communism, if not prevented, would spread throughout the nations. The federal government used President Eisenhower’s “domino theory,” which stated, “if one country in Southeast Asia collapsed to Communism then surrounding countries would soon fall” to rally support for their intentions to save Vietnam from Communism (Davidson, 2011, p. 839). The true reasons for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam Conflict is debatable, however one thing is clear, the war caused further division in a country already suffering from its own social issues. There had been conflict in the Vietnam long before the U.S. became involved in the conflict. Vietnam had been occupied by foreign countries for many years, and by 1940, Vietnam was under both French and Japanese rule. Ho Chi Minh, a Communist Vietnamese revolutionary leader, vowed to create a Vietnam that was independent of foreign rule (Davidson, 2011, p. 839). Ho Chi Minh established the Viet Minh whose main purpose was to liberate Vietnam from French and Japanese control. Northern Vietnam supported the Viet Minh efforts to create an independent Vietnam and joined forces with southern communist Vietcong to overthrow South Vietnam and unite Vietnam under one...
Words: 1312 - Pages: 6
