McConnell proposes raising the tobacco age to 21

[Tintrlvr]

Hopefully this is a first step towards a full tobacco ban!

F**k no.

Nobody thinks that tobacco is safe or healthy, and if people want to use it in spite of knowing all the negative effects, that's on them and the Government should allow them to do so.

Wrong. Tobacco is one of the key drivers of Medicare costs. Anybody who smokes is selfishly freeloading on the government dole.

The solution to this is cut Medicare or limit benefits

I guess the proposal is refusing healthcare/health insurance to people who smoke?

[Tintrlvr]

I think the age to buy tobacco, buy a gun, play lotto and gamble, engage in sex work(pornography/nude stripping) should all be raised to 21.

You do realize the inevitable end result of that would be raising the voting age as well right?

 No, voting has nothing to do with any of those other things which are almost all exploitive.

Yes it does. If someone is deemed by the state as too immature to drink or buy tobacco or a gun or gamble, why should they be able to vote? They're too immature and incapable of making their own decisions.

You and McConnell are dead wrong - the age for all of these things should be 18, not 21. You're either an adult capable of making your own decisions or not. But if the government persists in treating 18-year-olds as children for vices, there's no reason they shouldn't be treated the same way for virtues.

I don't see why virtues and vices necessarily have to come at the same age. The odd thing is the distinction between different vices, not that, e.g., voting and alcohol come at different ages.

[Tintrlvr]

I don't see why virtues and vices necessarily have to come at the same age. The odd thing is the distinction between different vices, not that, e.g., voting and alcohol come at different ages.

You're either an adult or you're not. It's well past time to stop coddling those who can vote or be drafted and/or otherwise go to war by telling them they can't do certain things because we say so. Or we need to take away their right to vote, because they can't fathom that smoking is bad for you and thus they're incapable of making rational decisions. Your choice. I choose the former.

I guess I don't see it as coddling. I actually don't have strong feelings about the age of consent for alcohol - would be fine with making it 18. But all of this principled stance about serving in the military but not being served alcohol seems like pure rhetoric with no real principled argument behind it and nothing you have said changes that. It's not a matter of "making rational decisions". It's just a social policy: whether permitting one thing is good for society as a whole or not. Maybe conscription at 18 isn't good, either.