The San Francisco Chronicle reprinted one of George Will’s editorials, “Licensed to Drink,” from the Washington Post. In it, he critiques Choose Responsibility, the new advocacy organization founded by John M. McCardell Jr., the former Dean of of Middlebury College in Vermont. Having watched young people at his college, he decided that the drinking age of 21 was making the problem worse rather than helping it, which was the goal of raising it. I don’t often agree with George Will and in my opinion he’s sometimes a right wing nutjob, albeit more articulate than most, but he has some thoughtful ideas expressed in this piece, and surprisingly he isn’t against it. Given that he was a speech writer for Ronald Reagan, who gave in to MADD and came up with “Just Say No,” that was a something of a surprise to say the least. But this is a debate that’s not going away, and it’s interesting to hear about from so unlikely a source.
Richard says
How the cycles turn! I remember the cries that the kids should be allowed to drink since they’re old enough to die in ‘Nam! Then, neo-Prohibition in the 1980’s. Now, they’re old enough to die in Iraq, so why can’t they drink?