What if Nixon decides to raise the military age instead of lowering the voting age? I assume the drinking age saga of 1971-1984 would have been prevented. Would people under 21 be percieved differently? Would schools be different?
Good question, and the answer is informal influence, which may still be considerable.How much influence does the President really have on constitutional amendments? I'm genuinely curious about this. Legally, the President has no role in the process whatsoever.
I would argue that the states lowering their drinking ages in 1971 did more to hurt our cause (and the rights of teenagers in general) than it did to help. Anyway, I wonder if colleges would have become more authoritarian with higher voting and military ages.I'm open to the idea that allowing young people of age 16 and 17 to buy 3.2 beer will reduce binge drinking later on.
open to the idea, I may be mistaken.
And in general, I like the idea of medium steps and stages as far as achieving adult privileges, although I do tend to think persons should receive full adult privileges at age 18.