The 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act was put in place to curb drunk driving deaths by raising the minimum age to drink to 21 and cutting ten percent of federal funds appropriated for state highway maintenance to any states that do not comply. With the invention of the smartphone and apps such as Uber and Lyft, there is, essentially, a cab at most peoples' finger tips. Although drunk driving is still an issue today, there is no doubt that it has been curved by these apps. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that Uber does have a positive effect on drunk driving in places where there is a lot of "congested traffic and limited parking", such as a college campus.

18 year-olds can purchase tobacco products (in most places), fight in the armed forces, be tried as adults in a court of law, and vote. At age 19 most young Americans are out of high school and have either started a job or are in higher education. Many students do not turn 21 until their junior or senior year of college, leaving about half of students on U.S. campuses without the same social opportunities as the rest. Fake ID's from China, underage consumption charges, embarrassment of being denied from a bar, loss of alcohol sales, loss of job opportunities, I could go on, but my point is that there are many consequences for young Americans and for the U.S. government for continuing to observe this act.

If we are given all of these responsibilities, but are not able to be trusted to drink like the adults we are told we are, then we will vote those into office who see value in our adult opinions. Why are we still observing this act that was approved the same year that Michael Jackson's Thriller and Tetris was released?