Legal Drinking Age

Since nearly the beginning of civilization, people have been fermenting and consuming alcoholic beverages. This drug has been the subject of great debate in many nations as it is widely considered to be an inappropriate drink for children due to its ill effects on the body and mind, and its addictive nature. It was even banned by the eighteenth amendment to the United States Constitution for over twenty years until it was repealed by the twenty-first amendment. The most common drinking age around the world eighteen; however, due to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, the legal age at which a person can consume alcohol in the United States is twenty-one. This law tied federal highway funding to a state’s legal drinking age, denying states money if they have a legal drinking age of below twenty-one (§ 158. National Minimum Drinking Age). While global drinking ages show a postmodern approach   ,  leaving room for variance due to cultural differences between nations, the legal drinking in the United States does not leave room for cultural differences between the different states, something with which Martha Nussbaum would disagree. The United States places a one-size-fits-all regulation on the drinking age and does not allow states to choose what age they think would be best to allow people to start drinking. This differs from how the federal government allows states to choose what they think is an appropriate age to allow people to start driving, allowing room for laws like Joshua's Law.
  A person in the United States is considered an adult at the age of eighteen. Once a person reaches the age of eighteen, they gain the right to vote, can purchase tobacco products, can serve in the military, and can even purchase products from infomercials. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act strays from this definition of an adult person by creating a class of people who are adults but are considered not old enough to drink alcohol. The definition of a person created by The National Minimum Drinking Age Act classifies persons under the age of twenty-one in a lower class of person than people twenty-one and over. As an eighteen year old, I would not be included in the definition of an adult person created by this law.