Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 18, 2008

A group of 130 college presidents and chancellors has published a statement calling for a reduction in the national drinking age from 21 to 18. They are concerned that the present policy offers an ironic incentive for binge drinking among teenagers newly free from parental supervision.

While not endorsing that conclusion, it should be pointed out that the federal government has no constitutional authority to establish a minimum drinking age.

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act is facially unconstitutional and enforced through bribery and extortion: Highway funds extracted from taxpayers nation-wide are lavished on state governments that comply, and withheld from those who do not.

A good case can be made that no government has the proper authority to regulate what individuals consume. Irresponsible behavior resulting in harm to others should be punished, of course. But teaching sobriety is a job for parents, family, and church, rather than the state.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.