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I live in a land where the drinking age is 18. Mind you, I’d already consumed enough booze to barf myself inside out a few times before reaching that age, just as many Americans have drunk their faces off prior to the age of 21.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: July 17, 1984--
In Canada, depending on where you live, the drinking age is either 18, or 19. But in the U.S. it’s national: 21 across the board. So much for state’s rights, amirite? Americans like getting fucked up, and the American government likes setting restrictions on getting fucked up.
In 1920 the 18th Amendment said, “No booze!” Thirteen years later the 21st Amendment said, “Okay, booze.” Side note for the ammosexuals: Your Second Amendment isn’t sacrosanct. You can ditch that shit. Or just follow the part about the “well-regulated militia.”
Anyway, back in 1933, with the return to legal drunkenness, most states decided on 21 as the minimum age. Then in 1971 there was another amendment to the Constitution. See, for a long time in the U.S. it was legal for an 18-year-old to be drafted and sent off to die in some foreign land, but many of them couldn’t even vote for representatives who opposed things like war or conscription. Then the 26th Amendment came along saying everyone who is 18 or older can vote.
And a bunch of states were like, shit, if they can vote, they can drink. So, they lowered the drinking age to 18, 19, or 20, and that’s how Nixon got a second term. Not really. Maybe.
For a time, people barely out of high school in 29 states could boat race and funnel beer and kill brain cells and even die of alcohol poisoning to their heart’s content. They could also drive while drunk. Not legally. But they did anyway. I mean, the drinking was legal, but the driving while shit-faced wasn’t.
And people got MADD. That’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a charity that saw how the lowering of the minimum drinking age in several states coincided with more death from drinky-drinky/drivey-drivey/crashy-crashy. They were pissed, or mad, or whatever, and they let their representatives know.
And on July 17, 1984, Ronald Reagan, who was married to Just-Say-No Nancy, said fuck it. You want that sweet highway money? Up the age to 21. Any state that didn’t raise the drinking age to 21 would lose 10% of federal highway funding.
Blackmail works. Within a decade all states, and D.C., were in compliance.
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I was too young to be affected by this, but my sister wasn't. She could drink for a couple of years before the legal drinking age was raised to 21 by the state because they didn't want to lose the federal money. She couldn't legally drink for a year before she was allowed again.