Drinking age & marriage

I just read an interesting article on a movement to lower the drinking age. I say interesting because it brings up other points besides the normal "if someone is old enough to vote and die for their country" arguments. I don't guess I care too much what the law is, but I've always thought it was silly that 18-20 year olds are deemed mature enough to help elect a president or to go into battle for this great country, but they aren't mature enough to buy their own alcohol. The other points are interesting but I won't go into them here - read the article if you want to know. What I thought was really interesting was the interactive map of the US that was in the article - you could click on any state to see their law. For most states, it says "under 21 may not possess or consume alcohol." That is what I have always thought the law was, mainly because I don't see how you could consume it if you don't possess it. But then some states bar possession and allow consumption...I really don't understand how this is possible. There are some that really strike me as funny though:

In Washington state: Under 21 may consume alcohol if parent or guardian is present. - now this screams crazy to me. First of all, once you're 18 aren't you your own guardian? So legally anyone over 18 can consume alcohol because their guardian would always be present, right?

The winner though, goes to multiple states (and I'm almost ashamed to admit Georgia is one of them): Under 21 may consume alcohol only if married AND if spouse or guardian is present. - now this strikes me as totally ridiculous. Do they think just because someone decides to get married they are responsible enough to decide to drink alcohol? Does getting married automatically make you more mature? I know plenty of married people that are more immature than some single people I know. Maybe if young couples realized this was the law they would get married younger just so they could legally throw one back instead of doing it illegally. I wonder if these states have higher divorce rates than others? Hmmm....

Now this whole thing leads me straight into another train of thought - about marriage. It bugs me that marriage is a legal issue. After I read this article I mentioned the crazy Georgia law to a friend of mine from Pennsylvania. She said there is a big debate in PA now about taxes because single people are taxed at a higher rate. Personally I think marriage is a religious thing and that the government shouldn't care about it at all. I don't understand why we should have to get a marriage license from the county or why it should matter at tax time. A lot of people are probably thinking, but if you're not "legally married" there's no "next of kin" to default in case something happens. My response: SO? I think if someone wants their spouse to be their beneficiary, or wants their spouse to have the right to say what happens to them in a medical situation if they can't say for themselves, then they need to document that with other legal documents, it shouldn't be that way be default because they got a marriage certificate.

Back to the drinking thing - I'm guessing that the law saying "Under 21 may consume alcohol only if married AND if spouse or guardian is present" really means you can drink if you're under 21, married, and your spouse is present OR if you're under 21 and your guardian is present, but the way it's written that's not how it sounds. ??