But in the U.S. we treat our emerging adults as infants and get infantile behavior as a result…if adults would learn to temper their patronizing attitudes toward young men and women, more maturity, self-restraint, and social responsibility could be expected of them. Lowering the drinking age to 19 would do much to reduce the youthful abuse of alcohol. As Ford says, society has to play its part. Acting responsibly and expecting accountability are two things everyone can work on -- not just teens and not just adults. This is a social problem -- and the social norms of America have gotten so wacky that few even know where to start to curb the dishevelment. Common sense would urge that the best form of control starts in the home -- with parents instilling in their young a proper and due respect for themselves as well as others.

But when half the homes in America are minus at least one adult acting as Mom or Dad -- can you seriously expect the instilling to take place? Who's going to do it? Dr. Phil?

No -- the underage abuse of alcohol is not the problem. If anything -- it's a symptom of a much larger problem. That much larger problem is the worm at the heart of the American dream, which says it can control its own destiny, reshape human nature, curb licentiousness by laying law upon law. But even Hawthorne saw that this was a big mistake and tried to give everyone the parable of Hester Prynne to prove it.

The fact is America has Puritanical roots, while Europe has Christian ones. Christ changed water into wine to let the party go on. Puritans cut that section out of Bible and buried it under the rug.

What's needed to change the milieu? Perhaps more than anyone can bear. But a proper...

And treating youths fairly rather than like potential thugs to be arbitrarily slapped down is a good course of action.
If a society wants respectable young men and women -- it better start treating them like respectable young men and women -- and not as the kind of garbage endlessly purveyed on the American television screen.

Shocking? Perhaps. True? Absolutely.

In fact, in conversations, more people tend to agree with this point-of-view when it is put to them logically and non-emotionally than the other. Why? The argument makes sense. And common sense is called common for a reason.

Andrew Mark Lisa may have the right idea. But it is going to take a whole lot more than a bunch of signatures to change the mental thinking and cultural attitudes of America. Do that, and then you might be saving lives.

Works Cited

Algoe, Sara. "Do not lower the drinking age to 18." Hubpages.com, 2009. Web. 22

Feb 2011. .

"Drinking Age." ProCon.org, 14 Feb 2011. Web. 22 Feb 2011.

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Ford, Gene. "Why We Should Lower the Drinking Age to 19." Alcohol Problems and Solutions, n.d. Web. 22 Feb 2011. .

Henson, Scott. "Should the U.S. lower the legal drinking age?" Pegasusnews.com, 20

Aug 2008. Web. 22 Feb 2011. .

Johnson, Alex. "Debate on lowering drinking age bubbling up." Msnbc.com, 14 Aug

2007. Web. 22 Feb 2011. .

Lisa, Andrew Mark. "Petition to Lower the U.S. Drinking Age to 18."

Petitiononline.com, n.d. Web. 22 Feb 2011. .

"Should U.S. lower drinking age?" ireport.cnn.com, n.d. Web. 22 Feb 2011.

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