With more and more states raising their smoking ages to 21 (and the federal government likely to follow very soon), along with a burgeoning movement to raise the "juvenile" injustice age to 20 or 21 (or perhaps even higher), one can conclude that the Overton window is currently shifting in the wrong direction. That is, it is becoming increasingly politically acceptable to raise age limits higher than 18, while lowering age limits is becoming increasingly unacceptable these days. And both corporate duopoly parties in government today seem to be equally affected/infected by this virulently ageist and illiberal trend towards higher and higher age limits.
Clearly, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the odds of us successfully lowering the drinking age (and toking age) to 18 anywhere in the the USA have really never been lower than they are now. Even the possible silver lining of a new showdown between the feds and states is exceeedingly unlikely now, since Mitch McConnell's "Tobacco-Free Youth Act" recently had that controversial section about withholding state grants removed before it got out of committee, and it looks likely to pass both houses without it.
Time and momentum are NOT on our side right now, in other words. Slopes are MUCH slipperier than they appear, and we need to turn this ship of fools around before it's too late (assuming it isn't already too late).
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Medical fascism, an aging population and hostility towards the concept of youth rights are factors that are to blame for the shift in the Overton window. I have also concluded that voting for the Liberterian party won't help our cause anyway. Neoliberalism and laissez-faire capitalism don't want restrictions on which chemicals are put into cigarettes or into vaping devices but those ideologies would support higher minimum ages, instead.
ReplyDeleteBINGO
ReplyDeleteWhat if it is too late?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid it may already be too late at this point. There is still a chance I think, but that window is closing fast. As time goes on, I have become increasingly pessimistic about this. For the past 35 or so years, the Youth Rights movement has basically been a story of "one step forward, two steps back", and it doesn't seem to be getting better anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteIf they succeed in lowering the voting age to 16, that will be a black swan event and a potential game-changer. Nancy Pelosi supports the idea, even if only for self-interested reasons, so that might actually have a chance. And then, it would become harder to justify raising any age limits higher than 18. Even Laurence Steinberg's "hot vs. cold cognition" arguments would not justify a full 5 year gap between the voting age and the drinking, smoking, toking, gun, or "juvenile" injustice ages or the age of majority.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too sure of that.
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