The Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered - 955 Words

In the United States of America, the National Government requires the states to enforce a legal drinking age of twenty-one. Where as the world average drinking age is eighteen, and in some Countries it is even lower where it is possible to get a beer at sixteen years of age. Taking that into consideration, there is a great deal of controversy in the United States on what the legal age should be to purchase and consume an alcoholic beverage. The largest issue being that you are considered to be an adult at eighteen and can buy cigarettes and other tobacco products, but are unable to purchase alcohol. With that there are many other reasons why the legal age to drink should be lowered. Many teens from seventeen years of age to twenty do not obey the twenty-one year minimum legal drinking age. Most teenagers either have friends that are legal to buy alcohol or even family members such as an older sibling and even their parents that will purchase alcohol for them to drink. In 2006 a surve y was done by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse that showed 72.2 percent of seniors in highschool have consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime (Charlie Covey). In addition, underage drinking accounts for 17.5 percent of consumer spending on alcohol, which may not seem like a considerable amount, but in reality it adds up to 22.5 billion dollars (Joseph Califano Jr.). This comes largely due to the fact that in twenty-nine states underage drinking is allowed if done onShow MoreRelatedThe Legal Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered973 Words   |  4 Pages The Legal Age for Drinking Alcohol Should Not Be Lowered To 18 In the United States. Every state has the right to set its own legal drinking age. However, according to George Will in an article he wrote in the Washington Post about the legal drinking age, â€Å"drinking age paradox† â€Å"lowering the drinking age will cost the state ten percent of its federal highway funds and cause a significant uproar from contractors and construction unions.† It is therefore in the best interest of every citizenRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered1732 Words   |  7 PagesThe definition of the word adult is: â€Å"a person who has attained the age of maturity as specified by law†(Dictionary.com). If this is so, then why is it that in the United States 18 year olds are legally considered adults in our society, but they can’t legally buy or consume alcohol? Yet at this age they are able to vote in an election, get married, serve on a jury, live on their own, purchase cigarettes, adopt a child, and defend our country. These are not easy tasks for one to take on, yet our governmentRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered1170 Words   |  5 PagesFor a majority of the 20th century, the United States drinking age has been a big issue. After prohibition had concluded in 1933, twenty- one was the new legal drinking age. Meanwhile, during the Vietnam War, eighteen became the new legal drinking age. Finally in 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act (MLDA). Since then, twenty-one years old has been the legal age to drink in the United States. There are several ways alcohol has been a reason for death such as, alcohol poisoningRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered1553 Words   |  7 Pagesold male who lives in Oregon. To celebrate his 18th birthday, he decided to go out with some friends and have a few drinks. He knows that the legal drinking age is 21, but he thinks what is the harm? I am 18 and in other countries, you are allowed to drink before you turn 21. Later that night as John gets in the car with his friends after a few hours of drinking, everything seems to be going well as they are driving down the freeway on their way over to his friend Dan’s house that is just a few milesRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered988 Words   |  4 PagesThe Legal Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered There are copious amounts of people who believe that the legal drinking age should be lowered to eighteen. Others think the drinking age needs to remain the same. A few of those also conclude the legal age of adulthood should be raised to 21. The belief is if the adolescent brain has not matured enough to support alcohol use by age 21, it cannot make the responsible decisions required at 18 years of age. Voters should make the decision toRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered1117 Words   |  5 Pagesto the legal age of alcohol consumption have been going on for many years. While some feel that 21 should remain as the legal minimum consumption age, others disagree. By examining different aspects of alcohol consumption such as social motives and health related concerns one is more able to fully grasp the role that alcohol plays in our society. Through research and analyzation one can come to the conclusion that a lowered legal drinking age is not the answe r. The legal drinking age should not beRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered Essay1548 Words   |  7 PagesIn the United States, the legal drinking age is twenty-one. In all fifty states, however, there are exceptions for underaged drinking at home, under adult supervision, or for medical purposes (â€Å"Drinking Age†). Overall, the legal opportunities for any person under twenty-one to legally drink alcohol are very scarce. There are many different points, made by people from both sides of the issue about whether or not to lower the drinking age to eighteen, or leave it where it currently stands at twenty-oneRead MoreThe Legal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered1481 Words   |  6 Pagesthe century, underage drinking happens every day in the United States and for some this might seem unacceptable but for most this is all because an unfair law put up by the government. The legal drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 because, among other things; 18 is the age of adulthood in America and adults should have the right to make their own decisions, also traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among newly-legal drinkers regardless of their drinking age; and, this law has notRead MoreLegal Drinking Age Should Be Lowered2099 Words   |  9 Pages friends, and the feeling of being invincible. Although there are a legal alcohol drinking and purchasing age in various countries, it is easily accessible to those who are underage. Alcohol is a monitored and controlled substance that can be purchased legally, yet there are many concerns that surround the substance. There are pros, cons, and different patterns regarding alcohol and the legal alcohol drinking and purchasing age. As a result of alcohol use, there have been many fatalities and injuriesRead MoreShould the Legal Drinking Age Be Lowered?2541 Words   |  11 Pagesabysmal failure. It hasnt reduced or eliminated drinking. It has simply driven it underground, behind closed doors, int o the most risky and least manageable of settings,(Debate) said John McCardell of â€Å"Choose Responsibility†. Choose Responsibility is a non-profit organization that is for lowering the drinking age to 18. Young adults can vote, fight and die for their country overseas, and purchase tobacco at age 18, but why cannot they have a beer? Drinking among the youth in the United States has escalated

Definition Essay - 900 Words

Michael Pastrano Melinda Zepeda English 1301 November 26, 2012 Definition Essay Draft Living, the feeling of just having air in your lungs and blood pumping through your veins. Not only does living define a human being it also can resemble nature. I think living can have many different definitions, such as having a very good day or the best time of your life, enjoying the little things. When were talking about living I’m not talking about something from the movie the Hangover or anything were they do crazy stuff and say they are living, I believe it can also be something very simple and still be the best day ever. Depending on how you want to use the word is totally up to you and your thoughts. Living resembles nature in many†¦show more content†¦To me now living is coming home from work and seeing my daughter everyday is living. She gets older everyday and I realize how beautiful she is that to me is living life to the fullest. Being able to see you daughter grow up is an amazing filling I would not trade that for anything in the world. Coming home t o my family is living life to the fullest for me. What is it to you? Living, is very important in our lifes no matter which way you mean it. Without living we wouldn’t be here, without living life to the fullest sometimes we would all be bored all the time, and not know what a thrill is. Living is about taking the risk that sometimes people tell you not to do. Living is waking up every morning and seeing another day, seeing the beautiful world we live in. Either way that you use the word, you are still living no matter what you do in your life or with your life. Living is in nature, in everyday human life, and in animals all breathing eating, andShow MoreRelatedPride Definition Essay951 Words   |  4 Pagescan be many different meanings of pride. Pride can be the allegiance towards a certain group or club, the pride one gives towards its own country, or even the pride that someone has internally within themselves could be another way to look at the definition of pride. Prid e can be interpreted in more ways than one; it just depends on the way the word is being used. The pride that I have towards a group at church or an extracurricular club at school can have many different interpretations to otherRead MoreTourism Definitions Essay960 Words   |  4 PagesThe Framework of Tourism: Towards a Definition of Tourism, Tourist, and the Tourist Industry (Leiper, 1979) Find six academic definitions for tourism, tourist or travel. Discuss each of these six definitions and explain the merits and efficiencies of each one, making connections with the points raised by Leiper (1979) where possible. Then provide an overall discussion about which definition is best and for what reason/s. Introduction Six definitions for the term Tourism were found from a varietyRead MoreThe Definition of Justice Essay860 Words   |  4 Pagesmorality and the values individuals hold most important. One value looked at by Socrates and his colleagues is the principle of justice. Multiple definitions of justice are given and Socrates analyzes the merit of each. As the group defines justice they show how self-interest shapes the progression of their arguments and contributes to the definition of justice. The topic of justice first comes about through a conversation between Socrates and Cephalus. The two are reflecting upon their oldRead MoreDefinition of Cheating Essay716 Words   |  3 Pageson-line dictionary defines the word â€Å"cheat† simply as ‘using trickery to escape observation.’ The word cheat dates back to as early as 1590 and is a transitive verb (a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects). Other definitions of the word cheat include: to deceive or mislead somebody, especially for personal advantage, to break the rules in a game, examination, or contest, in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage, and to have a sexual relationship with somebody otherRead More Definition Essay - Defining Freedom713 Words   |  3 PagesDefinition Essay – Defining Freedom Is it possible to define freedom? To define freedom is more than a difficult task, but perhaps easier than one might imagine if not overanalyzed. Given ample time to consider the task, however, a simple, sufficient definition can present itself: freedom is the ability to choose, for any creature living life in any place in any time. There is no greater truth to the statement, and no underlying meanings; freedom is simply the ability to choose. Read MoreAbnormality Essay Discuss Two or More Definitions of Abnormality920 Words   |  4 PagesINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Question 10 â€Å"Abnormality is very difficult to define. It can be hard to decide where normal behaviour ends and abnormal behaviour begins† Discuss two or more definitions of abnormality AO1 = 6 marks Knowledge and understanding of definitions of abnormality. AO2 = 6 marks Commentary on definitions of abnormality. The term ‘abnormal’ means deviating from the average. Therefore, if we were to adopt a literal approach to defining abnormality, we would conclude that any rareRead More High Definition Television (HDTV) Essay examples511 Words   |  3 PagesHigh Definition Television (HDTV) High Definition Television, also known as HDTV, is a technological advancement compared to the analog television most Americans have now. High definition was a marvel that was bound to come. It seems that every time a new technology emerges, it is a must have, but is high-definition television worth buying? This is the question I have posed to myself and will try to answer. High definition started in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. It was a simple experimentalRead More HDTV: Implications for High Definition Television Essay1738 Words   |  7 PagesHDTV: Implications for High Definition Television    HDTV (High Definition Television) has many positive attributes and is the television set of the future, but the primary concern is how this revolutionary standard can coexist and eventually replace the existing color TV system.   This vital problem associated with HDTV is similar to the obstacle that color TV encountered in 1954 - which was enabling the color signal to be read simultaneously with the monochrome signal, without interferenceRead MoreDefinition Essay790 Words   |  4 PagesDEFINITION ESSAY Definition Essay Definition: The aim in this essay is to define, explain, and exemplify something. Generally, in definition essays, we try to make the terms that we use understandable for the reader. Our understanding of a term may be different from the general concept, or we may be focusing on a specific aspect. Giving an exact definition would enable the reader to follow the ideas and arguments in your essay. Organization: Definition of a term is generally given in the introductionRead MoreThe History and Development of Assessment and Evaulation761 Words   |  3 PagesAssessment and Evaluation, Definition, History and Development† Introduction In this short essay we will define â€Å"Assessment and Evaluation†, we are going to compare several definitions found in diferent books and web pages. We will be writing about the history and development of â€Å"Assessment and Evaluation† and how it is very important for the counseling profession. As we will later reasd in this essay, assessment and evaluation are two terms

Encyclopedic System of Herbert Spencer Free Essays

The most extreme reflection of nineteenth-century individualism is to be found in the encyclopedic system of Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Both his paternal and maternal ancestors were of a long English and French nonconformists, dissenters and rebels, and Spencer traces in his â€Å"Autobiography† his â€Å"conspicuous disregard† of political, religious, and social authority to the tradition of independence and dissent so long cherished by his family. Spencer†s education was informal, unconventional, and highly deficient in the more traditional studies of literature and history. We will write a custom essay sample on Encyclopedic System of Herbert Spencer or any similar topic only for you Order Now His father encouraged his interest in the science and tecnology, and Spencer became an engineer. However, he practiced his profession for a few years, because he became increasingly interested in political economy, sociology, biology, and philosophy. He was a subeditor of The economist from 1848 to 1853, and then ventured into a full-time career as a free-lance author. As early as 1842 Spencer contributed to the Nonconformist a series of letters called The Proper Sphere of Government, his first major publication. It contains his political philosophy of extreme individualism and Laissez Faire, which was not much modified in his writings in the following sixty years. Spencer expresses in The Proper Sphere of Government his belief that â€Å"everything in nature has its laws,† organic as well as inorganic matter. Man is subject to laws bot in his physical and spiritual essence, and â€Å"as with man individually, so with man socially. † Concerning the evils of society, Spencer postulates a â€Å"self-adjusting principle† under which evils rectify themselves, provided that no one interferes with the inherent law of society. In discussing the functions of the state, Spencer is concerned with what the state should not do, rather than what it should do. Maintenance of order and administration of justice are the only two proper realms of government activity, and their purpose is â€Å"simply to defend the natural rights of man to protect person and property. † The state has no business to promote religion, regulate trade and commerce, encourage colonization, aid the poor, or enforce sanitary laws. Spencer went even so far as to deny the state the right to wage war; but as he says in his Autobiography, his â€Å"youthful enthusiasm of two-and twenty† had carried him too far in this respect. Viewing the nature of the state in evolutionary terms, Spencer is little interested in forms of government, such as the traditional distinctions of monarchies, aristocracies, and democracies. The two main forms of the state and society, according to Spencer, are the military state and the industrial state. The military state is the early form of social organization, primitive, barbarian, and geared to permanent readiness for war. The individual is no more than a means to an end set by the state: victory in war. Society is firmly organized, and every individual occupies the place assigned to him by the exigencies of militarism and authoritarian government. Status is the characteristic principle of the military society, and there is little mobility between classes and groups. Spencer defines the military state as one in which the army is the nation mobilized while the nation is the quiescent army. Showing unusual foresight long before total war was a reality, Spencer understood the impact of war on society as a whole, although his analysis of the military state refers to an early stage of society, it anticipates with remarkable accuracy the developments of the twentieth century. In the military state, Spencer says, the military chief is likely to be the political leader, and the economic activities of the industrial classes are oriented to the military needs of the state. There is massive corporation in a military state, but it is enforced and involuntary. Because the security of the state is the primary objective of all public actions. As the military state expands its territory and achieves stability over a long period of time, it gradually evolves into the industrial type of state and society. The way of life in the industrial state and society is based on voluntary cooperation, and the tendency is toward gradual elimination of elimination of coercion in all forms. Diversity, variety, and nonconformity characterize the industrial society with its emphasis on the value of the individual as the supreme end of government. The purpose of the industrial society is to assure the maximum liberty and happiness of its members, whereas the purpose of the military society is to increase its power by â€Å"rigid regimentation at home and imperialists conquest abroad. † In relation with other nations, the industrial society is pacific, eager to exchange the products of labor rather than to acquire wealth by force. As Spencer explains the members of the industrial society are therefore antimilitarist, anti-imperialist, cosmopolitan, and humanitarian. Free trade within and between nations is the formula of the industrial society, whereas economic nationalism is the ideal of the military state. In 1884 Spencer published four essays in the Contemporary Review, which were assembled in a book under the title, The Man Versus the State. It is his most famous work on politics and it is still the most influential statement of the Laissez Faire. In the first essay, â€Å"The New Tories,† Spencer attacks the English Liberals for abandoning their historical individualism in favor of social reform and the welfare state. According to Spencer, English Conservatives, like any conservative party, are the historical descendants of the principles of the military state, whereas the English Liberals, like liberals generally are the descendants of the industrial society. Moreover, Spencer also noticed that economic individualism, abandoned by Liberals, was more and more adopted by Conservatives, so that the roles of both parties came to be the opposite of what they had originally been. Therefore, the English Conservative would become the party of economic individualism and free enterprise, whereas the Liberals would accept public control of the economy. The second essay is â€Å"The Coming Slavery. † In it, Spencer refocus on the necessity that the laws of the society must not be interfered with the beneficent process of the survival of the fittest, and that interference with natural selection lowers the standards of society as a whole. Spencer stresses â€Å"on the official regulations to increase in a geometrical ratio to the power of resistance of the regulated citizens. † People get more and more accustomed to the idea that the state will take care of them, and therefore, they lose the spirit of initiative and enterprise. Spencer predicted that social-welfare programs would lead to socialization of the means of production, and â€Å"all socialism is slavery. † Spencer defines a slave as a person who â€Å"labors under coercion to satisfy another†s desires. † Under socialism or communism the individual would be enslaved to the whole community rather than to a single master. In his third essay, â€Å"The Sins of Legislators,† Spencer rejects the spread of government activity in social and economic areas. Progress is the result of the desire to increase personal welfare, and not the product of governmental regulation: â€Å"It is not the state that owe the multitudinous useful inventions from the spade to the telephone; it was not the state which made the discoveries in physics, chemistry, and the rest, which guide modern manufactures; it was not the state which devised the machinery for producing fabrics of every kind, for transferring men and things from place to place, and for ministering in a thousand ways to our comforts. † Spencer charges legislators with confusing â€Å"family ethics† with â€Å"state ethics. In the family, benefits received have little or no relation to merit. In the state, the ruling principle ought to be justice; therefore the relation between benefits and merits should be proportional. Spencer explains that the intrusion of family ethics into state ethics is a dangerous interference with the laws of nature and society, and slowly followed by fatal results. The last essay is â€Å"the Great Political Superstition. † In which Spencer says that the great political superstition of the past, was the divine right of kings. Whereas, in the present it is the divine right of parliaments. He attacks the doctrine of sovereignty as propounded by Hobbes and rejects the claim of â€Å"popular majorities for unlimited authority as being inconsistent with the inalienable rights of the individual. † Spencer concludes his book with the final reminder that government is not a divine institution but a committee of management, and that it has no intrinsic authority beyond the ethical sanction bestowed on it by the free consent of the citizens: † The function of Liberalism in the past was that of putting a limit to the powers of the king. The functions of true Liberalism in the future will be that of putting a limit to the powers of parliaments. † Spencer†s political ideas hardly changed between 1842, when he published his Proper Sphere of Government, and 1903, the year of his death. The constancy of his political thought in the face of rapidly changing social and economic scene explains why the same ideas that were the last word in radical individualism in the eighteen-forties had become the orthodox conservatism by 1900. And Spencer†s appeal to the English Liberals to return to their original individualism remained unheard, but he correctly foresaw that Conservatives would become the defenders of economic individualism. Spencer failed to see that the issue of the state intervention in the economy was essentially one of means and not of objectives, and that Laissez Faire could be progressive, dynamic, and revolutionary at one time –early 19 century-, and conservative, stagnant, and sterile at another time – late 19 century-. How to cite Encyclopedic System of Herbert Spencer, Essay examples