As I inch closer to senior citizenship — gallop really — few things cheese me off more than continually having to prove I’m old enough to buy a drink. It’s been 33 years since I became an adult (36 really, but they changed the definition from 18 to 21 while I was in between the two). Of course, what it means to be an adult is quite the loaded question. The standard responsibilities, obligations and rights include voting, the ability to enter into contracts, marry and several others, including of course, drinking alcohol. The fact that these standards vary from nation to nation, and culture to culture, should convince you that they’re a product of each individual community, and really ought to reflect the values of the populace. And once upon a time, they did, but in my lifetime those values have been hijacked by a minority of fanatics who are committed to forcing their own values on the rest of us.
While the common sense argument that fighting for one’s country should include at least the ability to vote lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, the reverse of that argument was used to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21. People 18 to 20 could be counted on to protect our freedoms — and die for their country — but neo-prohibitionists argued that they weren’t ready to enjoy a beer. A specious argument to be sure, but they managed to tie raising the drinking age to federal highway funds, and no state could afford to remain sensible.
But for anti-alcohol fanatics even that wasn’t enough, it was just a start. And neo-prohibitionists ever since have been working tirelessly to tighten the noose on all manner of restrictions on alcohol. I remember when I was in my early 20s, signs at cash registers warned that if you look 25 or older, be prepared to show your I.D. By the time I was in my 30s, the signs had changed, too, saying roughly the same thing but making 30 the threshold. As I’ve aged, the needle keeps moving. A few years ago, Tennessee passed a law that every person, no matter how old, has to prove they’re at least 21, even if they have one foot in the grave, no exceptions.
People invariably tell me I should be flattered to look so young, and chuckle as they say it, as if I should be amused. Well, I’m not. It has nothing to do with youth. It has to do with control, and having to keep proving I’m an adult is a ridiculous indignity that grows more insulting with each passing year. We live in an increasingly Kafkaesque world where as the older I look, the more I have to prove it. As late as my 40s, I was refused service because I left my wallet at home, despite there being little doubt I was more than twice the age of majority. It’s become the modern equivalent of having to “show us your papers” (say it with a thick German accent), a sad cliche become real. Adulthood has responsibilities and obligations, of course, but it should also have a few benefits, like not having to carry our “papers” with us wherever we go.
But now Somerset, the county in southwest England, has taken this absurdity one step farther. According to a story in the This is Somerset newspaper — a Grandfather, 77, falls foul of shop’s booze rules — an elderly gentlemen was refused his purchase of beer because he was shopping with his teenage grandson. Apparently, the overzealous cashier thought the 77-year old man was buying beer for the teenager, but even after he confirmed they were related, the sale was still refused. He sent his grandson outside, but the cashier still wouldn’t budge. Commenters to the story insist that she was right to refuse the sale because that’s what the law says. And that’s probably correct, but it’s the law that’s wrong. We have to stop trying to make a perfect society through such absurd legislation. When an elderly man can’t shop with his grandchild and buy something he’s legally entitled to purchase because he could potentially turn around and do something illegal with it, that’s going too far. That’s trying to fix a perceived problem by creating a different problem for many more people than were affected by the original problem. But this is the neo-prohibitionist strategy in a nutshell. They want to make it as difficult as possible for as many people as possible. It’s using a bazooka to kill a fly. It’s about punishing everyone who drinks, not about keeping alcohol away from minors.
And so neo-prohibitionists insist that 4/5th of the adult population, or more, has to suffer on the off chance a 16-year old might get his hands on a beer. That’s not what it should mean to be an adult in any society.
Raising the drinking age to 21 has led to other forms of disenfranchisement for young adults. Most states make 21 the legal age to enter a gambling establishment. (New Jersey originally set the casino gambling age at 18 but raised it after it raised the drinking age.) Many states have passed laws that permit hotel owners to reject guests younger than 21, on the grounds that they might drink illegally in their room. The federal CARD Act, passed a few years ago, made it more difficult for those under 21 to get a credit card–which we pretty much need in our economy. Earlier this year, both New York City and New Jersey have moved to raise the purchase age for tobacco to 21, reasoning that if adults can’t drink until that age, they shouldn’t smoke either.
I’m 61 years old, and obviously not directly affected by these rules (except at a local grocery store that adopted a “card-everyone policy” a few years back), but it still bothers me that our country treats 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds as “minors.” And in all probability, it always will bother me.
I believe there is a similar law in CA to what happened in England. I know we will not sell growlers or beers to adults in our stores who are with minors. Applies to us Team Members as well..if I come in with my kids, I cannot buy beer to take home.
Mitch, do you know the citation of this law? Is it statewide or local (if it exists)?
Steve
PREACH IT. If I have to keep my rosary off your ovaries, why can you reach your grubby protectionist mitts over here and mess with my beer? “For the children”? The nanny state is turning us into perpetual children. What we really need is more freedom, more adulthood, more personal responsibility.
But don’t listen to me. I am anti-establishment enough that I – gasp! – sipped the occasional beer when pregnant with my kids. How long do we have before that’s illegal? Anyone have a guess?
Just this week. I was complaining about the same thing. I’m almost 48, while I may not look like I am in my late 40s, I differently do not look like I’m 20 or younger.
I was in a long line to get into a beer festival. I ask “I’m 47, do you really need to see my ID”? Of course. Since I dared to question them, the security guy makes this big show of looking intently at my drivers license for way longer than necessary. I guess he thought if he glared at the license enough it would change my age to 20. It didn’t.
After that demonstration of who was boss, the woman next to him who was scanning tickets gave me the you should be flattered bs. Lady, I know what I looked like at 20. I know what I look like now. Nobody thinks this middle aged mess is under 21. These are things I didn’t say since it is pointless to argue with stupid.
Then she gives me “we carded an 80 year old”. Fortunately I resisted the temptation to tell her that telling me the extremes of their ludicrousness only confirmed that they are morons. Not only can’t you argue with stupid, you especially can’t argue with people who wear their stupidity like a badge.
Jay, you are SO RIGHT ON with your statements re proving your age. While I agree with checking ID’s of those young enough to question, I’m amazed a t policies of “check everyone”. I’m a graybeard and was refused beer at a Giants game years ago because I left my wallet safely in my car.
Agree totally w/Jay & all the comments, to which I’ll add:
1. At public venues (especially airport bars, sports/entertainment venues & corporate-owned restaurants where there’s a “card everyone” policy), there may be “spy cams”/roving “undercover” corporate spies on the employees, who are subject to being canned for violation of that policy. My dad & I (he was 66; I was 40) got that insult @ an A’s game in 1989; I’ve been thru it many times since in airport bars & many music venues where you have to get the hand stamp to be able to buy a beer/drink. At the Fillmore in SF, I don’t have to show ID to get the stamp; sometimes I don’t even bother – never have had a problem getting alcohol – ditto for the other smaller clubs that I see shows at – airport bars are the biggest pain in the ass. I joke to servers about corporate stupidity (& they always agree) when they have to do the mandatory “carding” to protect themselves.
2. Blame the whole shit about raising the legal age for alcohol & tying it to receiving Federal highway funds on Nancy Reagan (certainly a bitch who needed to be slapped repeatedly upside the head). CA never lowered the age for beer & wine to 18, but many states did in the 70’s; Louisiana was the last state to capitulate to that BS law that took effect in 1985 – anyone 18 before the law took effect was “grandfathered”; those who turned 18 the day after got screwed).
3. For sure, if you’re old enough to be in the military & put your life on the line, you should be able to have a beer! All this “touchy-feely & neo-prohbe” shit
about alcohol has proved useless & needs to be brought back to reality.