Kucinich said lower the Drinking age

The purpose for age restrictions are based on common perception of ability to achieve commprehensive decision making. With driving, there are  hundreds of black and white rules that are simple to follow + common sense + risk/reward decision making. The common sense is picked up through years of being a passenger and learning from others mistakes; the risk/reward is simply a form of fight or flight and the desire to stay alive. Therefore a 15 or 16 yr old should easily be able to handle most driving conditions. Drinking, on the other hand, is something that young people rarely see the  dangerous aspects of. They cannot comprehend a hangover or impairment until they are under the influence. They also are greatly unaware that those they see impaired are acting differently than normal... if they see someone impaired regularly, they expect them to act that way. The only intelligent and safe way to lower a legal drinking age is to allow "underage" drinkers to experience alcohol under supervision of an elder. This is just a good practice of teaching responsibility. Lastly, and most importantly, the enlisting age is a complete hypocracy of the above. The ability to make an informed decision to join the military cannot be made by someone with 18 yrs. of LIFE experience. Nowhere in any "be all you can be" add does it state that you may come home in a box, nor can an 18 yr. old comprehend that. That benefits recruitment enourmously...at that age, parental control is no longer accepted legally and  recruits are easily sold on how important nationalism is and how "cool" being a soldier can be. This is similar to the reason young adults choose to drink...seems a little odd.

It upsets me greatly that we allow our government to criminalize getting drunk but encourage getting shot at.

CURMUDGEONS AND ICONOCLASTS UNITE!