Americans of /b/, how do you feel about your countries'

>>734210137
I think it should be lowered. It's not like it's really stopping anybody, it's just making it a pain in the ass for people.

>>734210137

It's dumb as fuck, hopefully when Marijuana achieves a more legal status at the federal level they'll bump it down

>>734210137
Should be lowered to 19 but the ability to buy large quantities of booze all at once should still be restricted until an older age to keep college students from getting bombed and doing dangerous shit as a group

>>734210371
How would you define 'large' though? And why 19 rather than 18?

For what I understand it's up to the states to decide if the drinking age is 21 or not.. when I was 20 I was being served at a VFW in Texas.

>>734210458
My understanding is it's up to the states, but any state that has a legal age below 21 gets stripped of a lot of federal funding so all the states have 21 as the age to keep that federal cash.

When was it you were 20 just out of curiosity? Because currently my understanding was all states have 21 as the age.

I think one of the big reasons is our drunk driving accidents and fatalities are way higher than other countries, which in part is bc its harder is US to walk places unless you're in a city.

>>734210592
that was a private place though as well, technically a club can serve sometimes to over 18

>>734210592
It's 21 in Texas, I live here.

And to OP, yes. I think you either raise the age for military enlistment to 21, or lower the age to drink to 18. You shouldn't be able to die for your country and not be allowed a drink.

>>734210640
But this is super correct.

>>734210640
But if they're still way higher even with the age being 21, surely it's not working to reduce the rate?

>>734210137
Drinking is stupid all together and should be banned.
But if you have to drink then I think the age limit should be when the brain of the average person stops developing to cause the minimal amount of damage.
This point just happens to be around 21 years, so it's not just an arbitrary number but a quite scientifically produce one.

>>734210640
And to add to that, a lot of big cities (like Houston) invest all their transportation $ to road building and have shit walkability and public transportation.

In Sweden back in the days we had a book called a "motbok". It was a government issued small book that you had to bring with you to the government owned liquor shop.
Each person could only buy a certain amount of liquor every 30 days and not everyone could get one of these books.
Poor people and women usually wasn't allowed to have them. Those were simpler times.

>>734211225
But surely if someone's over 18 it's their right to decide whether to damage their brain, just like they can decide almost everything else. As >>734211118 says surely if you can decide to die for your country you can decide to pickle your brain in booze?

>>734211508
That seems fucked up. I met a Swede in uni who said alcohol was really expensive back home to try to stop people drinking, why so many restrictions on drinking?

>>734211508
Glorious

>>734211540
Because society needs to protect the uneducated masses or we will run out of a somewhat reliable work force.
If they fuck up their lives too early it's just a burden on the rest of society.

The military consists of purely the uneducated masses and requires them it would however be dangerous having a young boozer enlisted.

In Belgium, you're allowed to drink before you can drives, which makes it safer as you had time to learn how to handle beer and wine...
Beer / wine : 16
Driving/ alchool : 18

>>734210326
Or they'll put one on weed.

>>734211844
That argument doesn't hold much water when the rest of the developed world has 18 as the drinking age (16 in some countries as >>734211984 said) and they haven't run out of a reliable work force.

>>734210592
>My understanding is it's up to the states, but any state that has a legal age below 21 gets stripped of a lot of federal funding so all the states have 21 as the age to keep that federal cash.


This is correct. Yet the lower courts ruled that Trump could not strip funds from sanctuary cities.

Regardless of what you think of Trump and his policies, that seems very troublesome -- judges ruling based on what they wish the law was instead of what is has been established to actually BE is a Bad Thing..

>>734211180
That;s becuase it is bass ackwards. The drinking age should be 2 years below the driving age. Give kids a chance to learn to handle their drinking behavior before handing them a car.

>>734210137
Prohibition should be brought back, drinkers and drunks are obnoxious shits that do naught but cause trouble, if you can't take life sober go off yourself

>>734212382
I'd agree with this, the age is 16 for driving in most states which seems a little young to me (South Dakota wins the batshit crazy award on this one, you can get a licence there at 14 which is beyond fucked up)

>>734211762
The story is that we had nothing to do, so we were killing ourselves with alcohol.
We are also a socialist country bordering on soft communism so the government loves telling people what they can or cannot do.
Their solution was to take control of every beverage that is more than 7 proof and only sell it in special government owned shops.
They are never open on Sundays or public holidays and only until 3pm on Saturdays which is bullshit.
They also refuse to sell any cold beer because they don't want people to nip in just to buy a beer to drink in a park.

The price thing isn't necessarily true though, it depends on what you are after.
For your bog standard beer and booze, it is more expensive.
But if you want to buy an old scotch or a fine wine we have great prices and cheaper than most other countries. Mainly because they can order these items in bulk.
You can walk down an aisle and find a Heineken next to a world award winning 20 year old Rum from Honduras.
Most other countries you have to go to specialists shops or import it yourself.
There are a few upsides but mainly nobody likes it. You can also just go to Denmark or Estonia or some other shitty place like that and buy whatever you want and make a weekend out of it. You can bring around 40 bottles of booze with you over the border, no problems.

Sweden is pretty shit for many reasons.

>>734212560
Nigger you been to SD? Who cares if it's14 there's like 200 people and nothing for them to wreck into
Also farm reasons

>>734212595
So for the higher quality stuff it's relatively cheaper, but for the cheaper stuff it costs more? Man for a borderline socialist country that seems specifically designed to fuck over poor people

>>734210137
I don't care now that I'm over the legal drinking age and it didn't stop me when I was younger cus my mom just gave me liquor so she didn't have to deal with my autism

>>734211844
You're an uneducated mass.

You obviously don't know shit about the military, there are a lot of young enlisted personnel that drink way more than they should.

>>734210137
Personally I think we're too far gone to try to switch over to some lower age limit set up like Europe. There's enough stupid shit going on here as it is, much less having a bunch of drunk ass 18 year old kids running around everywhere.

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>>734212769
>nothing for them to wreck into
Yeah I've heard there's nothing pretty in SD (pic related)
>Also farm reasons
That doesn't seem a good enough reason. In the UK I think it's legal to drive on private land at any age, surely SD could make an exemption like that to keep all the 14 year old brats of the public roads?

>>734213096
>don't care
>autism

makes sense

I think drinking, smoking (tobacco or otherwise), gambling, any addictive vice should be illegal. We will never reach our full potential if we keep partaking in the drugs of the poor and lower classes. Let the blacks and other lower races drink and smoke and enjoy their own little bubble realities. Meanwhile the Whites will bring glory to their race unencumbered by the baggage that alcoholism and addiction brings.

>>734212284
Yeah that seems like an absurdly political decision, surely if the federal government can defund for one reason that leaves the door open to doing it for any reason.

Does it have something to do with one being about defunding states, the other being about cities maybe?

>>734213745
Not that anon, but iirc they take away federal funding for interstate highways if drinking age is below 21

>>734212420
Maybe it's the libertarian in me, but I think it should be up to individuals what they put in their bodies not the government. Yeah drunks are obnoxious but if they're not committing a crime to pay for their booze or randomly assaulting people what's the problem?

>>734213866
The government knows what is best for us. Giving the mob power to make decisions has always proven to be a terrible idea. I mean, shit, they elected Donald Trump. If that's not an argument for stripping common citizens of the right to vote I don't know what is.

>>734214007
So you're in favor of what system then? Oligarchy? Plutocracy?

>>734214007
>America elects a fascist
>that's a reason to bring back fascism

kek that's good anon. It reminds me of one of the best Churchill quotes, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others."

>>734210137
If you can die for your country you should be able to have a fucking beer

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>>734212420

>>734213866
>or randomly assaulting people

Have you ever watched the show Cops?

Drinking is degenerate, worst than smoking

>>734210137

USA is retarded, but with drinking portrayed and encouraged to be used in excess in media, adverts, and general culture, I get it.

>>734214152
Also another Churchill quote relevant to this debate, when some bitch called him a drunk:

'My dear you are ugly, but tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be ugly'

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>>734210137
Drinking age should be 18 and the smoking age should be 21 federally. Same with marijuana.

There should not be a drinking age. Instead you should have to pass a drinking test and get licensed to drink. That way we can stop these angry/depressed emotional drinkers from ruining my buzz

>>734214111
I support a version of plutocracy, where the head of state is a businessman (a successful one, not a complete moron like Trump) and runs it like one while having absolute authority. Profit is all that matters, and the current system of government impedes progress and thus profit. There should be no "reaching across the aisle" to compromise - there should be no aisle, you're either with the government or against it and if you're the latter you should have no say in how the government runs. Go fuck off to canada or whatever.

>>734214185
I haven't actually never seen it on British TV. Yeah I know drinking can make some people violent, there's this ace drink called Buckfast that gets mentioned in at least a few hundred crime reports in Glasgow every year. But why should the majority of drinkers who aren't cunts be punished because of the minority of twats.

>>734214359
Isn't that from the Sopranos when Ralph has a sit down with Paulie? He probably stole it from there.

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>>734214509

>>734214007
>Giving the mob power to make decisions has always proven to be a terrible idea.

Shit I guess giving the government absolute power has always worked

>>734210371
>implying the existing laws prevent college students from acquiring large amounts of alcohol and doing stupid things while intoxicated

>>734214410
This seems like bait but I'll take it anyway; What would be on that test? And what about child prodigies that can memorize how to pass almost any test by age 12 or younger?

>>734214627
it's a matter of finding the right person to give power to. Find a true Patriot who seeks power to help the country and not for personal reasons and we'd be set. With the right person at the helm of the USA with it unleashing its full military might, nobody in the world could stand against us

>>734210326
I hate faggots like you. Do you realize what will happen if marijuana is legalized? Harder drugs will be introduced to everyone which will fuck up the population. Look at Colorado, heroin and cocaine has gained popularity since marijuana was legalized. Fucking Liberals.

You could argue that the American people didn't actually elect Trump but the government and it's antiquated election laws did.

>>734214662
This. Especially when you have a four year Uni system instead of 3, you have a group of fellow students aged at least 21-22 who will happily buy giant amounts of booze for freshers.

>>734214627
We need to restructure our government to be 100% exactly like north korea.

>>734214793
this. Criminals don't like to obey laws. If you make one of their vices legal they will jsut turn to an illegal one because the now-legal one isn't thrilling enough anymore.

>>734214793
>>734214912
You guys are retarded, barely anyone smokes weed just because it's illegal, and the gateway drug theory has been debunked.

16 cigarettes, beer and wine
18 spirits, any other drug should be the way

>>734215010
yeah and nobody drinks underage because it's illegal/taboo. Stop reading pothead propaganda.

>>734214754
So it's a matter of building the perfect government... NEXT

>>734214754
>finding the right person
Almost impossible to find, there is almost nobody who gets into politics for the right reasons. And who in this system would decide who the 'right person' is?

>>734211508

Isn't there an IT system handling this atm?

>>734214729
Oh no. Not a written test. A drinking test. A week long one. First you pound beers and listen to people one up your stories and hit on your significant other. Next is vodka and every one talks about how hot your mom and sisters are. Then whiskey and your significant other dumps you. Then tequila and your favorite sports team loses. Then rum and an underage flirts with you. If you react poorly/emotionally to any of the test stimuli, you fail. Cant take the test for another year.

>>734215107
voting people in clearly isn't working

>>734215132
Not to mention finding multiple successors, unless that one individual just stays in power until they die (still will need someone else eventually). After being that powerful for a number of years, it's likely for a person to change and no longer be that ideal leader they once were.

>>734215132
the catholic church

>>734215241
just have a panel of objective observers who will execute any leader who does something that results in harm to the country

>>734215095
>nobody drinks underage because it's illegal/taboo
Maybe edgyFags and people drinking for the first time. People drink underage because drinking is fun, people get high because being high is fun. That's not 'pothead propoganda' if it was nobody would be buying legal weed in Colorado, because what would be the point if the illegality was the only thrill?

>>734215308
because they are addicted, anon