Protest parties

As teens and 20-somethings, we are known the world over for our propensity to protest and generate controversy.

In the 1960s, university students all across America rallied against what they saw as an unjust and imperialistic war in Vietnam. They challenged authorities at elite universities and made everyone re-think their values. The world witnessed the assembly and subsequent massacre of hundreds of Chinese citizens (primarily university students), in Tiananmen Square after they demanded democratic reforms in their government in 1989.

For some reason, perhaps because we don’t buy the excuse of something being “just the way it is,” we have never had qualms about holding authorities accountable for their actions. Moreover, if anything is to be said for the number of students who came out to see both the Clintons and Obama on their visits to campus, we’re more than a little interested in the political process.

With this in mind, one has to wonder why we’ve failed to create any sort of public debate about laws that make it illegal for those under 21 to consume alcohol.
Even though our laws treat drinking as an evil from which the under 21 population must be protected, I think it’s safe to say the majority of Americans have already snuck a drink or two by their 21st birthday. Why, then, have we adults under 21, being full and independent citizens, not become enraged that for three years after we begin voting and registering for the draft we can’t even walk into a bar? Surely it is demeaning that our current laws assume that our judgment in managing alcohol would be no more responsible than that of children.

In the end, I think our lack of anger about this arbitrary law can be traced to the fact that we are able to live as if the law did not exist. By the time students enroll in college, it’s no secret that drinking is feasible, if illegal. Although some people get intoxicated every weekend, many of them are never held accountable for breaking the law. If law-enforcement officers were actually arresting, say, 90 percent of underage drinkers, perhaps then students would begin to protest.

More distressing than the government’s big brother-like tendencies to excessively legislate our behavior as adults is the damage our apathetic response at being treated like children does to a democratic society.

By drinking when it’s illegal, we’ve become dulled to the seriousness of breaking the law. One could say that this lessened respect for the legal code is our fault. But that ignores the fact that young adults are breaking the law only because it’s impossible to take it seriously.

Thankfully, finding a solution to the problem isn’t difficult. It’s time for us to make the issue a voting priority. When we do that, legislators will find getting rid of arbitrary regulations isn’t so hard, and we’ll once again have a reasonable and respectable law.