Either the drinking age should be lowered to 18 or everything else be raised to 21. Such as "trying someone who is 18 as an adult. How can we try one of underage drinking as an adult if he is over the age of 18 but under 21? Isn't this an oxymoron or is the correct term a dichotomy?

I honestly think that the age for everything else should be raised to 21. Yes, they can serve our country, but are they mature enough to handle that decision? Many are recruited at a time where they just want out of the house and have no thoughts about what to do with their life. Then, their life ends and they never got to make the decision. I remember an 18 year old friend who joined so she could go to boot camp and that would make her loose weight! She bought tons of clothing with the hopes of "fitting into them" when she returned home. She was "discharged" during boot camp.
A hundred years ago, 18 was an adult, because people lived to be 60 or so and many got married and started farming, buying land, etc. when they were 18. Now if an 18 year old attempts marriage, the general consensus is that they are too young. There is a reason that adolescence and lack of responsibility has spilled over into the early 20's. Longer incubation periods with parents and more time to develop who they will become, how they will earn income has evolved as standards are raised, higher education is necessary and people live longer today.
My comment is NOT all inclusive, there will be plenty of people that will state that they are 18, etc. and just as responsible, if not more so, than people who are in their 20's, 30's and later. However those people are much less frequent than those that are still in need of supervision.
The brain isn't completely finished developing until about the age of 20. (The frontal lobe, which controls how decisions are made)
I think that the law should change legal adults to age 20, drinking at 21, and by the way, no one seems to care that you have to be 26 to rent a car. Why do you think that is? Most rental companies know that a 26 year old will be much more responsible and more likely to return a car in one piece IN GENERAL.
No, do not lower the drinking age, raise the adult age.

YES THE LEGAL DRINKING AGE SHOULD BE LOWERED. Anyone who can go to war, buy a house, etc., should be allowed to have a beer if they choose. A parent should be allowed to have a beer with their 19 yr old son who is leaving for war if they choose. I should be allowed to go with my 19 yr old son to hear a local band at a restaurant after 9pm if I so choose, & I should be able to buy him a beer if I so choose as his parent. I want to be there the first time my child decides to try alcohol!! I want to see how he handles it, if/how it changes his personality, so that I can teach him and make sure he knows what his limits are, and how it makes him incapable of driving. As things stand now I can't do that. So instead of him being somewhere where I can watch and take care of him and make sure he doesn't drive, he and his friends are out in some field somewhere, or at someone's home who's parents are out of town, drinking with no supervision at all. That is not the way it should be. It does not matter what we say, or threaten to do, teenagers are going to drink. We are doing them an injustice by forcing them underground, we should be teaching them. Parents should have the right to teach them. Even if they make it through high school without drinking, which might happened for 1% of teens, they will drink in college. I don't want to send them off to college without the opportunity to teach them how to handle alcohol. It infuriates me that I don't have the right as their parent to do that. Drinking is something they will be exposed to for the rest of their lives and we owe it to them to teach them how to handle it. Most people either have an addictive personality or they don't. If they do they will become addicted to something, if its not alcohol, it will be cigarettes, drugs, food, gambling, etc. Young people are at greater risk doing something that could become addictive in hiding than they would be doing it out in the open with people who care watching after them! I keep hearing that raising the legal age to 21 is responsible for lowering drunk driving fatalities, but I have yet to see any statistics that really address all the factors. The decrease in drinking related car accidents is due to education. It was common for people of every age to drink and drive 20 or more years ago. Now it is taboo. People are much more aware of the consequences, and the penalties are much higher. All age groups are drinking and driving less, not just people under 21. Parents are much more diligent about drinking and driving now because of education, even parents who do not care if their underage kids drink. 20 years ago you never heard the term 'designated driver' which has become commonplace now. Vehicles are much safer now than they were 20 years ago, and seatbelts are worn all of which contribute to lower traffic fatalities alcohol or not. Having a legal age of 21 has not stopped kids from 18 to 21 from drinking, it has just changed how they do it. Education and penalties for drinking and driving should continue to be enforced strictly for all ages. If they are, the numbers will stay down regardless of what the legal age is.

Yes, the drinking age should be lowered. Why must an individual be banned from drinking alochol when they are able to risk their lives for this country, be able to smoke cigarettes(which i believe are worse), or even be called and tried as an adult but not be allowed to drink alcohol? That is ridiculous. Things were fine before when it was 18, what is the difference now? Being able to drink at 18 will also help people to control themselves when drinking since they are used to it and know what it can do to them. Besides 80-90% of teenagers most likely already drink underage and illegally. If anytihng change beer to 18 and hard liquor to 21. Oh yeah, if you can own a SHOTGUN at 18 you should be allowed to at least drink beer!