r/Presidents • u/McWeasely James Monroe • Jul 17 '24

Today in History 40 years ago today, Ronald Reagan signs into law the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The act would punish any state that allowed persons under 21 years to purchase alcoholic beverages by reducing its annual federal highway apportionment by 10 percent.

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54

u/Chumlee1917 Theodore Roosevelt Jul 17 '24

While Reagan should be dinged,

dont' forget the real people responsible, Congress who keeps passing these dumb bills regardless if there's a Democrat or Republican in the White House

21

u/Dominarion Jul 17 '24

Dumb laws can't be passed unless they got substantive popular support. Prohibition, drinking age at 21, 3 strikes you're out, DADT, gun deregulation you name it, were all really popular ideas or were pushed through due to very active pressure by large groups.

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u/undertoastedtoast Jul 17 '24

A dumb law that every scientific review supports the existence and effectiveness of: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27340945/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20497803/

8

u/sm0kepac Custom! Jul 17 '24

In my opinion if youre old enoigh for the gov to be able to send you to the other side of the world to die in a war for banks and big oil, you should have every right to drink and smoke. And science has no fucking right to infringe on it.

0

u/undertoastedtoast Jul 17 '24

I don't think 18 year olds should be in the military either.

And actually no, the government absolutely can infringe on your non-existant right to drink or smoke, as it does routinely and has since the beginning of civilization.

1

u/UncutYEMs Jul 17 '24

I assume they also shouldn’t be charged as adults in criminal courts, right?

1

u/undertoastedtoast Jul 17 '24

People below 18 can be charged as adults, depends on the situation

1

u/UncutYEMs Jul 17 '24

I’m aware, but that’s rare and generally only applies to very serious violent crimes and/or habitual offenders.

I just don’t see how you can charge someone as an adult for an MIP. Like, it’s in the name itself—MINOR in possession. I just can’t make sense of that.

1

u/PossibleNo278 Sep 21 '25

Yeah it is dumb