Drinking and driving shouldn't be illegal!.

Why, may you ask?

The act of drinking an alcoholic beverage is legal to anyone in the United States of America over the age of 21 years.  The act of driving in the U.S. is legal for anyone over the age of 18 years.  It's legal (meeting the above conditions) to drive to a bar and have a drink in the United States of America. 

DUI laws simply criminalize your mode of getting home from engaging in legal activities.

Many people today  drive home from bars without getting arrested or getting into accidents.  Many of these people have partaken of intoxicants and still they make it home without killing anyone.  Many of them also make it home without driving their car through anyone's house.  In fact, many people in bars drink without falling down.  They do these kinds of things everyday, all the time. 

Drinking and driving alone doesn't guarantee negative consequences.

Since DUI laws make illegal the last step in going to a legal place and engaging in a legal activity: DUI laws establish a double standard in our society.  I'm not arguing here a wisdom in drinking and driving, but rather, I'm saying we should primarily discuss why it isn’t wise to drink and drive rather than locking up citizens who might otherwise have gone home to 'sleep it off.'

So why (you may ask) isn't it wise to drink and drive?  One reason may be: alcohol hampers reflexes.  This doesn’t mean alcohol deadens reflexes though.  A drunk can still react as long as a drunk has their head up and is paying attention.  Alcohol, however,  may make the act of paying attention seem less important than it really is to the drunk though.  Be that as it may, if a drunk pays close attention while driving they can drive home without killing someone. 

Killing some really seems to be the turning point in this argument about DUI laws.
If you kill someone while driving intoxicated, you have committed a crime.
In fact, as our society is currently configured, you've committed two crimes.
The crime of Driving While Intoxicated has been committed as well as, at minimum, the crime of manslaughter.

When we're talking about someone dying though, it seems, manslaughter is enough to have someone locked up for a long time.  Does it really matter if a driver was drunk when they committed manslaughter?  The dead person is still dead one way or the other.  The driver's state of mind doesn't really have much impact on bringing anyone back to life or of absolving the driver from the crime.  This seems to be something behind the rationale for instituting DUI laws in this country.  There is an immediate (almost irrevocable) equation of drinking and driving equaling someone's untimely death.

That equation supposes too much about individual actions and situations.
Do drunk drivers cause horrible accidents?  Sure.
Do sober drivers cause horrible accidents?  Absolutely!

There shouldn't be a law condemning you for something you haven't done yet, but that seems to be what we are doing with DUI laws.  If you drive home drunk and make it home with no horrible consequences should you feel guilty?

I don’t think so.

Punish people for crimes they commit.  Don't try to protect people from themselves by creating laws premeditating the execution of a crime.  That seems unreasonable.  It almost seems akin to 'no taxation without representation.' 

Or something like that.

With DUI laws on the books (and establishing a precedence) why not exclude everyone from buying a gun.  The rationale is the same.  Statistics suggest a strong correlation between people with guns being the people who commit murder with a gun.  If we make it illegal to buy a gun then people won’t commit murder with a gun. 

Or so logic might suggest.

This logic can be played out for an eternity.  Get rid of the knives and no one can kill with a knife.  Lose all of the ropes and people can't hang themselves anymore.  Make everyone read the Bible and all souls will be saved. 

All the while people continue to die despite our best intentions.

Decriminalize drinking and driving all ready!