That Is About The WORST Thing You Can Do.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL-59B) has once again put forward a piece of legislation guaranteed to pander to university students.

Representative Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis says lowering the drinking age could decrease binge drinking among young adults because it would make alcohol less forbidden.
Kahn admits her House bill has little chance of becoming law.
The bill would allow people ages 18 to 20 to drink alcohol at places that carry liquor licenses, but it wouldn't allow them to buy alcohol at stores. A similar bill is in the Senate.

The reason I call it pandering is that the University of Minnesota just happens to be in Phyllis' district and her endorsed challenger, Ole Hvode, just happens to be a student at the U.

There are a number of reasons why HF 3495 is bad legislation. One is that many 18 year olds are still in High School and they don't just don't have the sense of responsibility to keep from drinking and driving. We simply do not instill that sense into our children. Instead we put them through "zero tolerance" training via D.A.R.E. We teach them that alcohol is "forbidden" and you know what happens when young people get their hands on things that are "forbidden" don't you? Another is that this bill actually encourages drinking and driving in young people! The bill states that 18-20 year olds are allowed to drink in restaurants and bars only - no buying liquor and taking it back to your dorm where you stay off the roads...oh no - you have to get behind the wheel and go to the liquor and then drive home!

Rep. Kahn says that the bill will decrease binge drinking....that goes back to my second point. Americans have a rather unhealthy view of alcohol. What I am about to say will probably make my more social conservative friends cringe, but this is one place where the Europeans are right! They grow up with the thinking that a glass of wine or beer with dinner is ok - even healthy. However we seem to think that any kind of consumption is bad. As we have seen all too often, just because a child reaches a magic chronological point in time, it does not mean that they will know how to handle alcohol (or any of lifes other challenges) without a lot of good healthy interference from Mom and Dad and even then.....

There is no way to put lipstick on this - even Rep. Kahn get's it. She admits that it will not go far so why even waste the Legislature's time when there are other more important things to get done? What else can you call it but pandering?

Then again, it put in mind the P.J.O'Rourke saying...Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. Yep - it fits!

Hat tip to the Junior Logician and his best friend for the title of this post! Even teenaged boys sometimes "get it".