“Gosh dang it, they should be able to have a beer,” says WI state rep. who wants to lower drinking age to 19

Drinking age was changed to 21 in 1986 

If you can join the military, you should be able to legally drink.

That’s essentially the argument of a Republican and lead sponsor of a bill to lower Wisconsin’s drinking age to 19.

“You’re old enough to get a gun, go off to Iraq and Afghanistan and fight in a war, but you can’t come home from that war and have a beer with your buddies to celebrate coming home?” state rep. Adam Jarchow said Wed. afternoon on WIZM. “I just think that’s fundamentally wrong.

“Gosh dang it, they should be able to have a beer.”

Jarchow is among three legislators pushing the bill. He scoffs at critics who say it will make the drinking problem worse.

“I think they’re living in a fantasy world,” Jarchow said. “ Young people are told, ‘No, no no.’

“Well, when you’re a young person what do you do? You rebel. So, we have a whole bunch of kids, they go off to college, and all the sudden they’re binge drinking and I just think that’s a bad idea.”

Jarchow added that it would cut down on the number of hours police departments have to patrol college campuses.

“The states are the laboratories of democracy and we’re the ones that should be setting this age,” Jarchow said. “We know our folks in this state better than the people in Washington.”

The drinking age in Wisconsin was raised to 21 Sept. 1, 1986.

The bill includes a provision that protects Wisconsin from losing federal highway aid — a provision the federal government put in to force states to raise the age limits to 21.