Former Middlebury College President John M. McCardell Jr published an editorial on CNN.com today denouncing the US’s “incomprehensible” alcohol policy.  McCardell, who runs the Amethyst Initiative, a group dedicated to the lowering of the drinking age, advocated licensing drinkers similar to the way we license drivers, thereby allowing only the responsible 18-to-21-year-olds to pound Irish Carbombs at Anna Liffey’s.  A lot of university presidents and chancellors have gotten on board with Amethyst (there’s a list on the website, along with a great slideshow of young responsible people enjoying wine), although Yale has yet to make the leap.

Spurred on by the editorial, House democrats have hurriedly introduced a measure, HR887a, onto the floor that would combine drivers’ licenses with the new drinkers’ licenses.  If the bill passes, DMV exams would be composed of the classic drivers’ test with the addition of an written exam which would test the exam taker’s knowledge of alcohol responsibility, what to do in case a friend has drunk to much, and how to make a perfect Cosmo.  Upon passage of both parts of the exam, the test taker would receive a state-issued photo ID to show a police officer if they are pulled over for speeding or if they’re found in an alley in a pool of their own sick.

Okay, so I made up that second paragraph.  Obviously I completely support lowering the drinking age, and I think McCardell’s ideas, though clearly concessions to an uninterested political climate, have some merit.  But honestly, it won’t ever happen unless most Americans stop thinking that these kind of laws protect people, and stop voting for candidates who are “tough” on anything.  Except for Dennis Kucinich, who seems to be able to get re-elected no matter what batshit positions he takes on, I find it hard to imagine any lawmakers, even Democrats, getting behind this idea.  Alas, the group of people who would unanimously flock to such a politician—namely, 18-to-21-year-old voters—is much, much smaller than the group that a politician needs to keep in his good graces—stupid people.