The Legal Drinking Age Should Be During The United States

In recent years, debate about what the legal drinking age should be in the United States has been ubiquitous. People of all ages advocate both for and against lowering the age, and some people do not even have an opinion. What has led people to their specific convictions, and what facts do they possess that support these convictions? In the following paragraphs, this popular controversy will be addressed as each position is thoroughly analyzed. Many people today advocate for the drinking age to remain where it is, such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and the president of the American Public Health Association. MADD has been very active in recent years, whether it be through lobbying or mass media appeals. They often use scientific evidence, statistics, and their emotional appeal as mothers of dead children to coerce their audiences into believing that drunk driving and the drinking age correlate. For example, â€Å"Since the 21 law was widely enacted, the number of young peo ple killed annually in crashes involving drunk drivers under 21 has been cut in half, from more than 5,000 individuals in the early 1980s to around 2,000 in 2005† (Dean-Mooney). Using solid numerical evidence boosts their appeal to logos, not to mention that these statistics are very easily decipherable. It is obvious to any reader that, according to this passage, a higher drinking age leads to less fatalities. The author of the piece mentioned here is also the national president of MADD, whichShow MoreRelatedChanging the Minimun Legal Drinking Age in the United States1745 Words   |  7 PagesChanging the Minimum Legal Drinking Age in the United States Over the past twenty years the minimum legal drinking age has been twenty-one in all US states, but that has not stopped citizens of the United Sates from attempting to lower the age. 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