At what age are you an adult?

Currently, we allow driving at 16, voting at 18, and drinking at 21. I propose to move these ages to 18 for driving, keep drinking at 21, and move the voting age to 25, and here’s why.

No one in their right mind should let a 16-year-old drive a car. Cars today are too easy to drive while having too many distractions such as texting or eating bowls of cereal on the way to school. Kids also were driving cars playing Grand Theft Auto and Mario Kart, so they’ve probably picked up a few other bad habits. If they must drive, let it be a vehicle with a manual transmission, roll-down windows, and no air conditioning. I enjoyed driving at 16 but really didn’t know what I was doing. I found myself driving as if there was a cinder block attached to my foot and not looking before I crossed railroad tracks. More on that in a future post.

18 is way too young to vote. Kids barely have the discernment skills and judgment to drive a car, so why let them drive to the polls and elect government officials based on what they’ve learned from The Daily Show, Facebook friends, or liberal college professors? There are no such things as liberal parents, that’s got to be a myth. (see below)

Drinking at 21 should remain the same. People ignore this anyway. There needs to be a 4-year buffer zone between fascination with alcohol and voting rights. How can you trust a person who chooses natural or bud light over craft beer?  Sadly, some individuals never graduate from this phase. Either that or they progress to whiskey and don’t care about anything but whiskey.

Voting should be moved up to 25 years old. Society seems to mark this milestone age as where you begin making good decisions. Insurance companies recognize this by dropping your rates. Geez, even the government wants parental insurance coverage until 26 because they don’t think you can find a job and support yourself. By this time, most people have bought a house, tied the knot of matrimony, and started producing children. At this point, most people have achieved personal responsibility. They will want a limited government that doesn’t tell them what to do. They will want a free market to choose the products they desire. They have the liberty to make their own decisions without a government mandate. See, no such thing as a liberal parent! It’s just common sense, that’s all.