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Matier & Ross of the San Francisco Chronicle noted this past Sunday that the current girlfriend of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom may have been drinking at the opening of a new shopping center.

Sowhat's the big deal? It appears that Brittanie Mountz just turned 20.Mayor Newsom and his spokesperson have gone on the defensive, feelingobliged to distance themselves from Ms. Mountz's alleged flouting ofthe law and categorically stating that he has never provided her withalcohol.

The fact is that Ms. Mountz works at a nightclub, so she is around alcohol all the time, and there is no indication that she is acting in a manner that causes real heartburn for savvy media-minded politicians.

Whatno one is talking about is the absurdity of the current drinking age,which was finally cemented at age 21 in the 1980's. Congress used thehybrid carrot-stick of federal transportation dollars to enforcecompliance among the States, and there was even a Supreme Court case on the use of that carrot-stick.

Thereis really no principled justification for withholding the ability for18-20 year olds to buy and consume alcoholic beverages. To be sure,putting the drinking age at 21 decreased the number of trafficfatalities among young people.

The larger problem is that oursociety's anxieties around intoxicating substances, including alcohol,lends themselves to social pathologies like binge drinking and drinkingin situations where the sole purpose is to get drunk.

A "SeeNo Evil" approach to teaching our youths about decisions they willencounter through the ordinary course of their lives -- whether it beabout alcohol, other drugs, or sex -- needlessly continues to place thelives of millions of children and young adults at risk. From "Just SayNo" to the "Silver Ring Thing," many of today's adults are operatingunder the dangerous illusion that their children will be inoculatedfrom the world around them through trite sloganeering.

Today'syouths need comprehensive science-based education on these issues thataccepts reality, affords them with real critical thinking skills, andemphasizes their personal safety. Critics will contend that engagingthem in this way will "send our children the wrong message." But it isfar better to prepare those adolescents and young adults for realitythan to allow them to be blindsided by it.

Another unintendedconsequence of forestalling an entire category of decisions from legaladulthood is that it contributes to the prolonged adolescence of manycollege-aged persons and twentysomethings. If the law and society tellsthem that there are forbidden modes of action that are entirelyjustified by malum prohibitum ("wrong because it is prohibited"), many will embrace those modes of action and delight in their "transgression."

Thecurrent drinking age is the type of capricious posturing that operatesto undermine the perceived legitimacy of the law's authority. Thisperception of legitimacy is necessary to ensure the type of consensualcompliance that animates free citizens to utilize and contribute tosocial, legal and economic frameworks to advance their liberty andprosperity.

Further, few have lent their voices to thepersistent onslaught of nannyism from various quarters that animatesmuch of today's larger discussion around "public health." Fromemployers forbidding their employees from smoking in the comfort oftheir own homes to politicians establishing "trans fat-free zones," onehas to ask whether today's Americans are cut from the same cloth asthose who embraced sentiments like "live free or die." Of course theanswer to that hypothetical is "no," as Americans are seeminglyresigned to forsaking their freedoms in exchange for the wayward yetcomforting belief that their leaders are actually "looking out forthem" because they say so.

Sadly, today's America is much closerto the "democratic despotism" de Tocqueville described than a republicof free citizens where government operates within a limited sphere lestit muck things up too much. The death knell of American liberty camewith the advent of the so-called science of public administrationadvanced by Herbert Croly and his progeny, and at present there islittle hope for a second coming.

Back to Mayor Newsom and Ms.Mountz: M & R also note that Ms. Mountz is a registered Republican,which has to be considered really "far out" in most Bay Area circles. Agood photo of the dashing pair may be found here.

Posted by Nikos A. Leverenz.
http://www.nooked.com/news/itemtrack...0e5d98845e63b1

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