demon liquor

So me and my roommates are sitting here on the eve of the eve of the cabin party (confusing, right?) discussing different alcohol policies around the world and here at school. Every time this subject comes up, it makes me feel stupid about my country. The rest of the world trusts their citizens to be mature enough to control their own alcohol consumption from almost any age, but in the U.S., where we are apparently more "free" than anywhere else, we can't buy alcohol until 4 years after we can vote. That means we could have technically decided two presidential elections before you could go to a bar and get a beer. Seems a bit silly, yeah? But according to Inara, my roommate from Uzbekistan, as long as you can walk and speak you can buy yourself alcohol there. Also seems a bit silly. I wonder if they have very many drinking problems because of it, or if they have less because it's not a taboo? I think that's part of the American problem, we make it such a taboo, something that is portrayed as incredibly fun but "not until you're old enough". Just makes people want to do it more. Kind of like the alcohol policy here on campus. They say, "We're going to treat you guys like adults. You take care of yourself, you make sure you get to class, you make sure you eat and sleep and survive. But we're not going to trust you enough to drink,". What kind of message is that? Like, "Oh look, we want you to think we trust you, but we actually don't,". Maybe that's a bit harsh. Maybe there is no right answer. Maybe we're just all doomed to forever fight the issue of that demon liquor :)