spider_007, that's the classic argument for lowering the legal drinking age to 18. Especially during times of war, like even now for instance when kids 18 yrs old or so are going over there (and mostly the lot of them seem to be under 21 who are on the front lines) in Iraq and risking their lives, and yet they come back over here and they're going to get told they're not adult enough to have a drink with the "adults" ??? It is bizarre, and seems like a very arbitrary way to pick a number, it makes no sense. Either they must lower the drinking age, or raise the military age. They can't continue to have it both ways and still want to be considered logical. Furthermore, going back to the sexual stuff, a girl can be 16, and she can legally operate an automobile, by which privilege society is telling her she's now old enough and mature enough to make decisions , many decisions, on a daily basis, that could easily risk her own life and the lives of others on the road. But, at the same time, some guy who's , say, 19, 20, 21, what-have-you, sleeps with her, totally consensually, and they treat him like he's a "pedophile" (a word certain types of people love to throw around very freely in this country w/out always considering its true meaning) and he has to register as a sex offender for life, etc etc. Total BS. In my opinion, if they want to keep the driving age at 16, then they must lower the "age of consent" for sex, porn, etc etc. But if 18 is going to continue to be seen as some kind of magic number, as though an 18 yr old chick is so much different from a 17 or 16 yr old one, then they should also raise the driving age to 18. Without doing so, their laws here will continue to look arbitrary and illogical. ~D