Wisconsin Is Right—Fourteen Should be the New Alcohol Server Age

If we want minors to act responsible, responsibility ought to be granted

Despite popular opinion, there really is nothing inherently wrong with questioning and examining laws that address minors and their access to alcohol. This maxim surely was considered when, last Monday, two Wisconsin lawmakers introduced a bill in Madison that would allow teenagers as young as 14 to serve alcohol to diners. Clearly, they believe that laws restricting minors’ proximity to alcohol can be liberalized without harm to the minors in question. I agree.

The reason for the introduction of the bill by Sen. Rob Stafsholt (R) and Rep. Chanz Green (R) is that “Wisconsin is already having severe workforce shortage issues, specifically in the food and beverage industry” and the current restrictions on some minors serving alcohol "causes workforce issues due to an establishment’s underage employees only being able to do part of their job."

In Wisconsin, teens as young as 14 may work in a restaurant with a permit to do so. However, state law requires the server of alcohol must be 18 years-old. This is a good thing. A little early work experience is likely to build habits of responsibility and conscientiousness. The proper question to ask concerning 14-year-olds serving alcohol is whether or not this activity will harm the young people serving a beer to someone or if their service of that beer is likely to inspire a descent into alcohol abuse.

Regular drinking of alcohol by young people with underdeveloped brains and less access to reason is the kind of thing that causes problems. It’s proper and responsible to set limits on alcohol consumption for minors. But I don’t think, given supervision, that there is a high likelihood a minor regularly walking a beer out to a patron in a restaurant is going to result in a life of alcohol abuse. And if the allowance for 14-year-olds to serve alcohol can help solve workforce shortage issues, then I think I’m all for this.

Wisconsin actually has an interesting relationship with minors and alcohol. It is one of those states where a minor who is accompanied by a parent may drink in public. That means if the parent approves, a minor in Wisconsin may drink a beer with their macaroni and cheese in the restaurant. This is an unusual provision that most states don’t allow, though a number of states allow minors to drink in the home.

As a reminder, the United States in general has an outlying relationship with alcohol. Besides its two constitutional amendments (18 and 21) that address the status of alcohol, the United States is one of the very few countries in the world that does not have 18 years of age as its legal drinking and alcohol-purchasing age. While most states allow minors to legally drink in private, otherwise one must be 21 to drink in public and purchase alcohol.

I find this to be a matter of coddling, not to mention hypocritical. Surely a person who can join the military and carry and point a gun at a person is mature enough to hoist a glass of wine. But this train has long ago left the station. A billion-dollar industry exists in the United States dedicated to the proposition that drinking alcohol is a very, very bad thing and to the notion that a 20-year-old drinking alcohol will scar the poor child for the rest of their life.

Though the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate are controlled by Republicans, Governor Tony Evers is a Democrat and likely to veto legislation. In response to the bill, the Governor’s spokesperson noted in a tweet that Governor Evers has the worker shortage problem handled with his proposals to build more workforce housing, expand paid family leave, make child care more affordable, invest in job and skills training, and better funding of schools. No estimate was given on how soon these proposals could be funded and put in place or if they could be put in place faster than lowering the serving age to 14 years.

I am assured by the CDC that the 21-year drinking age saves lives. We don’t know how many lives. But we are assured that this is so. Nevertheless, I’m willing to come down on the side of an 18-year drinking age as well as letting supervised 14-year-olds bring a tankard of suds to a table. One doesn’t promote responsibility without allowing one to be responsible.