At Hit & Run, Nick Gillespie flags this video that originally appeared at Radar. The video shows a debate between Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Alex Koroknay-Palicz of the National Youth Rights Association. It aired Monday on Fox News. The response from Marty Beckerman at Radar:
Thanks for protecting us at home and abroad, ya mindless juvenile killing machines. No drinky for you!
The Marine Corps has already taken steps to remedy this injustice by lowering the drinking age "from 21 to 18 for Marines on liberty overseas and for leathernecks taking part in official on-base command functions -- including the birthday ball." It would make sense for the other services to follow suit. If you may be asked to die for your country (though killing for one's country is always preferable), then you ought to be entitled to all the rights and privileges that citizenship affords. Meanwhile, the accusation that the government sets the draft age at 18 because those soldiers are too young to "think for themselves," well, I think Beckerman gets it right with his headline: "MADD Founder Hates Troops Almost As Much As She Hates Alcohol."