voting age, drinking age, age of consent, driving age

14, 14, 16, never

why 14 for drinking age? just curious

never, 18, 16, 17

18, 18, 16, 16

13-19, 0, 0, 0 ron paul 4evs

14 year old kids can harm themselves in lots of ways, but in my ideal society they also don't have any money. but their parents buy them wine at a restaurant sometimes. their parents are french. xp

never, never, never, never

16, 16, 14 but only with somebody up to 2 years older otherwise 18, 65

15 across the board

16 for all, I reckon. Would put the middle two lower but the way I see it is you'll always get people wanting to do stuff before they're allowed to, so the lower the legal age, the younger the people thinking about breaking it will be. Although NV's version would also work.

dayo's answer is an authoritarian teetotalling BDSM mass transit paradise

in other words he's the median bloomberg voter?

don't blame me I voted for kodos

18, 18, 18, 18

one big party

we need a thread for the ages when people shd be prohibited from doing these things

I mean, in my version, I am totally assuming that people will be breaking the law. So just set the age limit at a reasonable age, accept that there will be some deviation from it but don't make too much of a big deal about it.

don't make too big a deal that millions of dumb teenagers kill people and themselves w/ cars?

just set the age limit at a reasonable age, accept that there will be some deviation from it but don't make too much of a big deal about it

the current age of consent ought to be policed like that really, but there's always room for crazy vengeful parents i suppose

whenever they pass a basic competency test, across the board

I think the voting age should be four. Political campaigns would be endlessly entertaining and more brightly-colored.

haha darraghmac otm

xp

i think they'd be surprisingly similar to now

18, 18, 16, 19

I would be fine with making the driving age 21, but that would mean all suburban teenagers would never ever have a social life, which I am also fine with; I would fix this by making WoW free until you get a driver's license

oh hell no, fewer teens in MMORPGs plz

don't make too big a deal that millions of dumb teenagers kill people and themselves w/ cars?

― iatee, Friday, March 2, 2012 8:04 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, millions of people kill people and themselves with cars. I guess my perspective is different as there isn't the massive driving urge/insistence that driving is a God-given right/fear and loathing of buses over here.

Thank god young people don't vote, because I can only imagine the hilarity that would ensue were 14 year olds encouraged to hit the polls. I guarantee the votes would bring us one step closer to Idiocracy, at least when it comes to electing porn stars and pro wrestlers.

So I'd say keep voting at 18, then drinking down to 16 (with parental guidance?), then 16 (love the NV exception), then 18.

And at 65 you have to start getting annual driving tests.

18*, 18**, 16***, 16

Notes:

* A minor under direct supervision of a parent can already drink alcohol at home, and some do.

** The age of majority and voting age should coincide. I don't think kids under the age of 18 should be able to sign legally binding contracts.

*** This one's a total moral morass. I'm leery of setting a definite moment where consensual sex jumps from a criminal act to a brilliant expression of mature love, even though it damn well needs to be done. It is an arena where biology is fighting tooth and nail with culture. Every answer produces crappy results.

14 year olds have more reasons to vote for the long-term interests of america than 60 y/os

tbh I fully endorse giving young people the ability to vote, because some of them will take the opportunity to become more engaged with the civic aspects of American citizenship and hopefully be less stupid re: understanding the Bill of Rights

14 year olds more likely to vote for the very short-term interests of america tho

most people vote out of irrational douchebaggery might as well let the kids have a shot

Raising the driving age is the only one out of these that what would have pissed me off when I was a teenager. Grew up in a rural area, not being able to drive at 17 would have been a huge deal.

$2.50 gallon gas? wahoo, I can go on that road trip this summer and bang hot babes like in that one funny movie

14 year olds would immediately vote for the president promising to lower the drinking age, age of consent and driving age.

nah 14 year olds are like long-term investors, you can't really give them anything directly cause they already live off someone else, so the only thing you can do is
a. ensure them that jobs will exist when they become adults / society won't collapse
b. go to 'cool/entertaining wars'

14, 14, 15, 16

Voting age: 18
Drinking age: 18
Age of consent: 16
Driving age: 18

I don't know, driving age I would say earlier but only accompanied by an adult.

And at 65 you have to start getting annual driving tests.

Dude, you're so right. The old guy was driving so slow in front of me, I nearly fell asleep. Then again better than the FUCKING ASSHOLE who got supreme roadrage behind me. OMG!

I quit drinking before I reached drinking age, and I've never voted so have no real preferences there.

No WAY can you let someone younger than 18 vote. I mean, seriously.

18, 18, 18, 18

14 year olds are idiots!

voting - make them pass a test about political practices, institutions, philosophies, current affairs etc (i guess...GCSE standard and age? so 15/16, but if they don't pass then potentially NEVER)
drinking - 18 (b/c people will obv start earlier and that's not policed rigorously and nor should it be)
age of consent - 16 (and yeah obv kids will start earlier, adolescence guarantees it; if two 14-yr-olds get it on, i don't see that as a big issue as long as they're using protection, so this is more a barrier to adults hooking up with 14-yr-olds)
driving age - whenever they pass the test, i am not v concerned about this tbh

14 year olds would definitely vote to legalize prostitution

14-yr-olds are idiots and so are most adults

fairly serious about competency tests for voting, driving btw

Drinking, eh got to go with something similar, drink as early as you want but public drunkenness or w/e to carry a revocation of this until you're 50

Sex- protected and consensual sex prob ok from 15 onwards, with the older party not to be over 18

I have an idea, create a 'president for kids' for all kids under the age of 18 that they can vote for

voting - make them pass a test about political practices, institutions, philosophies, current affairs etc (i guess...GCSE standard and age? so 15/16, but if they don't pass then potentially NEVER)

yeah let's have an essay component to this too while we're at it

when i read these threads i wonder how many people see / work with 14-16 year olds on a regular basis

if two 14-yr-olds get it on, i don't see that as a big issue as long as they're using protection

you can't rely on a 14-yr-old boy to brush his teeth in the morning without prompting, let alone use protection.

Nyquil used to be a good example of this, although I think they've reformulated it so that it's now alcohol-free

I had a cocktails with my mom when I was 17 at a restaurants, actually a few times at a grill/bar under parental supervision. Granted this was Texas in the 90's and maybe the law has changed.

Arrested for "minor in possession of vanilla extract."

(xp) According to the link I posted, it hasn't.

how much vanilla extract would you have to drink to get drunk?

Well, there's a tree/forest component to this: maybe you can drink in your private residence with your underage (how underage???) kids, but as soon as someone else finds out about it you're potentially liable for all sorts of things. No? Regardless, the law is totally regional and piecemeal about this. Do any of the laws even list a minimum age? Because surely it can't be legal to give toddlers recreational booze. So at what point does it become sympatico? This is why I doubt it is legal, per se. Overlooked, maybe. Slip though the crack, maybe. But it seems like a grey area at best.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100918194935AAri3Xn

xp: Josh, there's a pretty detailed link posted upthread that addresses a good chunk of your alleged "grey area"

wow that's less than I expected, people should do that

you could have some vanilla extract shot + cake making party

when I worked in a bar in MI during college geographically-challenged people from across the border in WI would come in and try to order their over-18-under-21 kids drinks, then complain when we wouldn't serve them. in WI (at least at that time ~10 years ago) it was legal for parents to do this.

wouldn't you get super-nauseous? vanilla extract is pretty damn strong, i get nauseous just from sniffing a bottle and i can't put more than a teaspoon in a batch of pancakes or french toast.

Dan, I'd call the crazily inconsistency of those state by state laws pretty close to a grey area. Is it legal for underage people to drink alcohol in the privacy of their own home? Yes. No. Sometimes. Never. Depends on where you are and why you're drinking.

Are there any cocktails that call for vanilla extract? It's essentially like a bitter, but I've never come across one.

Regardless, the law is totally regional and piecemeal about this.

it's regional and piecemeal about everything, we have "state laws"

i mean i don't understand the substance of what your arguing or who with

goole OTM

well there is a national law too, it just couldn't be as expansive as it would like to be http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1092767630.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amethyst_Initiative

this is interesting!

whoa what happened to my text there

There aren't too many local laws that go totally contrary to a constitutional amendment, are there? Not arguing anything. Just stating that it's a weird grey area, because, no, local laws don't usually trump federal, constitutionally dictated laws. State by state speed limit changes are one thing; there is no national speed limit. But state by state underage alcohol consumption exceptions? That, to me, is unusual. See also: legal to sell medicinal marijuana in some place, contrary to federal law. Do you have the right to buy? Yes. Do you have the right to use? Yes. Does the government have the right to punish you for doing those legal things? Yes. Do they always? No. Grey area.

it's not really 'exceptions', there is a federal law but what the law can do is limited by the fact that it has to be justified by the interstate commerce clause

my understanding is that federal 'drinking age' laws are not that exactly. the US Congress agrees to give states money for their freeways if the states adopt the drinking age of 21 and do other stuff maybe besides.

my understanding of this could be way off and i don't feel like looking it up r/n

congress can't make laws to regulate the drinking age, it can make laws to regulate the sale of alcohol

Actually, that sounds about right. The gov can't legally mandate it, but it can withhold funds to non-complient states. That sounds familiar. Most states comply. Or comply enough.

haha u must admit that is angels on the head of a pin shit

xp

So it's never legal to buy alcohol under 21, but it is, in certain situations, legal to consume it.

well i think we need to differentiate between "legal gray area" and "takes more than a 4-word sentence to describe accurately"

In Louisiana the legal drinking was 18 until sometime in the 00's. So many kids would drive across the boarder to buy their booze, the danger being the highway patrol man who parked at the boarder waiting for them.

louisiana's highways were famously shitty too!

xpost (to obligatory voting) trust me, people don't get fined.

They do in Australia! i have been, twice.

I'm still confused about one aspect: is it legal to get your kid shitfaced? Is there any age that it is illegal to get your kid shitfaced? (I can't imagine "it was legal" would hold up as a defense in court, regardless, ironically.)

in most states it is illegal to get your kid shitfaced but it depends on the state. it is illegal for 20 y/os to purchase alcohol in every state.

lol america

14, 16, 16, 21

it is illegal to get your kid shitfaced in every state if it is endangering their well-being

goole is right about why it's 21 in every state

it is illegal to get your kid shitfaced in every state if it is endangering their well-being

― the late great, Friday, March 2, 2012 3:56 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah, that's the thing. as far as i can tell, the laws aren't very clear on this

but common-sense should kinda dictate this might not be a good move, just as ILXORS talkin baout things right?

unclear how?

unclear in that the degree of resulting intoxication that might be permissible (or impermissible) isn't specified

well yeah but the same is true of spanking or any other type of child abuse / endangerment

yeah, exactly. difference is that very few people voluntarily consume unhealthy amounts of spanking.

yep, uh huh, very few *coughs*

lol

the assumption of the law is that minors don't have "voluntary"

Are there any cocktails that call for vanilla extract? It's essentially like a bitter, but I've never come across one.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, March 2, 2012 6:05 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it shows up in some tiki-type cocktails by the drop. it's actually a tincture, not a bitter, since there is no bittering agent.

I would post on this thread but there's just too much to read. Drinking age should be 12 or so though.

I've got no real beef with the status quo in Canada but if I were going to lean in any direction, it would be towards raising the voting age and lowering the drinking age.

18-21, 16, 14, 16

i dont really know what ages for these things would be fairest but i hate teenagers so:

25, 10, 32, 28

They do in Australia! i have been, twice.

How much was the fine?

I think not voting is stupid. But that's because I have been brainwashed by my political minded husband. lol