THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 8, 2001
 
Jenna's Old Enough to Drink
It's time the law acknowledged that there's nothing wrong with sipping a margarita.
By Dennis Prager
 
The disproportionate and often unseemly media attention given to the president's daughter, Jenna, cited twice for underage drinking, may have at least one positive effect--forcing the country to rethink its drinking laws. You need to have a pretty hard heart to believe that a 19-year-old woman deserves to be reported to the police and punished by a court--not to mention nationally humiliated and publicly psychoanalyzed--for ordering a margarita.

It forces you to question whether laws banning drinking for all Americans under the age of 21 are wise. It has certainly made me wonder, and I am one American not otherwise prone to a pro-alcohol agenda. I have imbibed hard liquor maybe five times in my life, I have one glass of wine a week, and I almost never drink beer.

Moreover I consider alcohol abuse to be a major social problem. It is a factor in a majority of murders and in countless incidents of child and spousal abuse. If all alcoholic beverages evaporated from our planet, with them would go a great deal of crime and unhappiness. In fact, it is an indication of our society's moral decline that whereas two generations ago we made war on alcohol, a substance that can lead to much evil, our generation has decided to wage war against tobacco, which leads no one to hurt anyone and constitutes only a major health problem.

All this notwithstanding, drinking in and of itself is not a moral problem. Countless good people drink without the slightest ill effect on themselves or on others. Indeed, when consumed prudently, wine, alcohol and beer can add a bit to the sum total of human happiness. So whatever our attitude to drinking may be, we should first acknowledge that there is nothing wrong with a 19-year-old enjoying a margarita. When I cited on my radio show a foolish article that spoke of Jenna's drinking as some pathologic consequence of her father's drinking, I noted that if this is the worst thing Jenna Bush ever does, George and Laura Bush will be among the luckiest parents to have ever lived.

Drinking a margarita is not wrong for either an adult or a 19-year-old, and society should not make illegal what isn't wrong. Making illegal what is not immoral--and what nearly everyone does--only breeds contempt for the law.

What, then, is considered wrong about drinking at 19? The same things that are potentially wrong with drinking after 21--inebriation, alcoholism, a dulling of the conscience, a loosening of inhibitions, and drunk driving. But making it illegal to drink before 21 does not prevent these problems. Essentially, what these laws do is force people under 21 to sneak and lie--just as Jenna did by offering a false ID.

Moreover, it is morally confused for a society to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to drive a car; 18-year-olds to kill and be killed in the armed forces; 18-year-olds to disfigure themselves permanently with tattoos; children of any age, with a guardian's permission, to attend films that feature the most innocence-robbing raunch and sadism; 18-year-olds who usually know nothing about life or about public policy to choose our nation's leaders; and 15-year-olds to have an abortion without a parent's permission--but not to allow 20-year-olds to have a margarita.

One New York state official called my radio show to tell me that the policy actually works against society's interest. Many young people, instead of drinking in public where their consumption might be monitored and moderated, ask someone to buy them alcohol and then consume it in the very worst place of all--a car.

Does allowing 18-year-olds to drink therefore mean that we must adopt a laissez-faire policy toward drinking? Absolutely not. But if we are wise enough, it will enable us to concentrate on preventing problem drinking and promoting moderate drinking. This means fighting drunkenness with every didactic and legal weapon we have.

We can limit the amount of alcohol anyone between 18 and 21 can purchase. We must strictly enforce DUI laws and severely punish violators, young and old. And we must pass and enforce laws against public inebriation. "Get drunk in public and get arrested" will do far more to educate young people about moderate drinking and make a civilized society than "No margaritas." We have prosecuted Jenna Bush more for drinking her margaritas than we have thousands of rioting, drunken college students.

Finally a truly wise society might consider my producer Charlie Richards's idea: Switch the age of drinking with that of voting. Personally, I'd sooner trust the majority of 18-year-olds to drink responsibly than to vote responsibly.

As embarrassed as Jenna Bush may be after having police called in to cite her for drinking a margarita, the country ought to be even more embarrassed by such irrational treatment of a decent young woman and by the misuse of its police resources. If it is, the president and Congress should do whatever is necessary to allow the individual states to set their own drinking age. You can call it the Jenna Bush Bill. You can certainly call it compassionate conservatism.