Bye bye Miss American Pie...

At noon today, the Acting Governor is going to sign a law raising the drinking age on Guam to 21 years of age. This will be in keeping with the states and a few of the territories. It shouldn't matter to me since I am well above the legal drinking age, but it does.

I am one of those people who believe that if you're old enough to vote, serve your country, get married, and/or be punished as an adult for breaking the law, you should also be considered old enough to consume an alcoholic beverage. I also think that passing a bill like this sends a message to parents that we didn't do our jobs well enough and now the government has to step in, even though research shows the vast majority of alcohol related mishaps involve people age 25 - 35.

That bothers me, but what bothers me even more is the way this law was passed. The issue of raising the legal age for alcohol consumption has appeared on Guam ballots twice. And has been voted down by the majority, twice. Yet the bill to raise the age was introduced and voted on exclusively by our Senators this time and now, our Acting Governor will add his vote making it a law.

My understanding of politics has always been that we elect our officials to represent us. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of democracy is "a government by the people." That's what I was taught in school; a government by the people for the people. I guess I missed the part where it said, "unless your elected officials decide otherwise."

The ironic part of the passing of this law is that it has been called a political move designed to gain votes since this is an election year. If that's so, then this one of the dumbest things I have ever seen a collective group of politicians do! How does one endear themselves to the voting populous by doing the exact opposite of what they want?

The majority of the people have voted against this initiative, not once, but twice. Now our incumbent election hopefuls, and I have to admit, much as I hate it, that includes the Acting Governor (of whom I am a supporter, employee, and friend), have basically spit in the face of the majority. I'm no political analyst, but that seems like a really bad campaign strategy for all of them.

This sets a dire precedent on Guam. This says that no matter what the people want, our elected officials can and will do whatever they want. What's next? The people of Guam have voted against casino gambling twice, but perhaps our elected officials will decide that because of the money that could be generated from taxes, it is actually in our "best interest" (which was the argument used to go against the wishes of the people with regards to raising the drinking age). Who knows what issues are coming in the future?

The pending military buildup from US Marines and their families relocating from Okinawa to Guam has been a hot topic, especially now that the military has made it known that they intend to take more land than they'd originally said would happen. The people of Guam went nuts upon hearing the military intends to make the Pagat area off limits to civilians. I was greatly affronted by the amount of coral they intend to destroy in Apra Harbor.

We have implored our politicians to do something about this, but who knows what will happen if the military starts waving money in their faces? Rumor has it that the real reason our legislature passed this bill was because of the millions in money that could be had for roadway improvements. What's to stop that from happening again, with the military buildup or some other issue that is hotly debated in the community?

We have just been blindsided by our politicians and most of us don't get it yet, or begin to understand the ramifications. Its shocking and scary to those of us who do.

It will and has been argued that lives will be saved by the passage of this bill, except research doesn't support that. I don't expect much will change. If people between the age of 18 and 21 want to drink, they'll find a way to do it, and traffic accidents will continue to occur amongst drunk drivers over the age of 25, where research proves they mostly do.

All that this law will accomplish is to let us know that what we want means nothing and that our politicians will sell us out, literally.

On the bright side, this could end up being a great tourism attraction for Fiji, where the legal drinking age is still 18. Maybe we'll see more of our young people heading to Fiji for a holiday so they can have a beer. And maybe we'll see less of our young people registering to vote because the message today is that it doesn't matter what the voters want so why bother trying to make your voice heard.