I sorta feel like a crusader these days when it comes to alcohol, which is bizarre for many reasons, not the least of which being that I rarely drink and have only been drunk once. (Thank you AnnaLisa!)
It all started last week. Two things happened that got me talking about alcohol, and since then it seems like about the only thing I’m talking about.
First, the election. I wanted to vote early (which began last Monday) and so I pulled up our sample ballot on the Collin County elections site, only to find a vaguely worded ballot proposition stating this: “To allow the legal sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption only.” Hmmm. “Only?” Here in Allen proper, we can currently buy beer and wine for off-premise consumption, but we can also buy a margarita when we go to Chili’s — hard liquor for on-premise consumption. The word “only” really made me question whether this particular ballot initiative was going to make the laws more restrictive, and I was fairly well convinced the “right” vote (for me, anyway) was a “No” vote. I talked about it with my classmates at UTD as well as my students elsewhere, and fairly well resolved myself to this course of action.
The next day, I was teaching my students at an undisclosed location, only to find out, in the normal course of doing what we do in that class (namely, reading this George Will article), that these students have never heard of Prohibition. WHAT?!?!?! These students — we’ll call them “kids” — are roughly 18-20 years old, with few exceptions, and literally had no idea. Couldn’t even guess. I was utterly, totally appalled.
This inspired me to rant to anyone who would listen (except not at school, because of the need for secrecy about my undisclosed teaching thingy) about how crappy the Texas K-12 school system is and how it’s completely failing to educate our kids. Daniel’s boss is having trouble with Plano schools on similar grounds. I’m now fairly well resolved no child of mine will ever attend a Texas public school. Apparently, we need to move to somewhere in New England or the Northeast.
So then I decided that since I’m the teacher, I have the power to make a change here. I found a set of videos dealing comprehensively with the history of Prohibition and decided to show them to my class this week. Yesterday was my first day doing so, and it went over spectacularly. The videos are a product of A&E/History Channel, and so the quality is top notch.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, mid-last week we got a postcard from a group of citizens here in Allen advising us the ballot initiative deals only with newly annexed territory into Allen city limits, and so the “right” vote is a “Yes” vote. We voted early on Saturday and I did the right thing. Yay for civic engagement!
Finally, while talking to my mom about all this over the weekend, she told me there are a couple of ballot initiatives up her way dealing with alcohol as well. As an avid reader of the hometown paper, I was a bit surprised I hadn’t read about these… until today. Here’s the snippet that best captures the story:
Alcohol issue becoming more divisive
In six days, the question of whether alcohol sales should be allowed in Marion County will be over, much to the relief of supporters on both sides of the issue.
The county has not allowed the sale of alcohol for 58 years. Of the 75 counties in Arkansas, 42 are dry counties and do not allow the sale of alcohol, according to the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. The last county to change to allow alcohol sales was Baxter in 1978, according to the division. [Note: that’s where I grew up, in wet Baxter County] {/snippet}
Especially after having watched 90 minutes of history yesterday about Prohibition and how it got passed, I’m particularly amazed that we still have these vestiges of Prohibition today, with the talk of “wet” and “dry” areas/counties/cities, etc. Have we really not progressed any more in the 70 years since we did away with Prohibition? Have the people who support bans on liquor sales STILL not learned the lessons of Prohibition? Apparently not — just read George Will’s article, “Prohibition II? Good Grief.”
I swear, I think I’m becoming more Libertarian by the day. What possesses people in this country to think we need to legislate morality and personal behavior? Incidentally, the Baxter County ballot proposition is to allow the sale of alcohol on Sundays — and there are those who are vehemently against this proposition (including, I hear, the liquor store owners) because they don’t think selling alcohol on Sundays will be profitable. But, there’s nothing in the proposition that would *require* liquor stores to be open on Sunday just because it’s legal… I mean, it’s legal to send mail on Sundays, but that doesn’t mean the Post Office will pick up or deliver mail that day (without a steep surcharge, anyway). Do we really need to regulate the business hours of an entire class of businesses, because — for whatever reason — we think taking a day off is a good thing? Does nobody else get frustrated when you head off for Chick-Fil-A on Sunday, only to get there and realize, “Awww, crap! They’re closed!”
I guess my point is: America’s 13-year experiment with Prohibition CLEARLY showed that when you make something illegal, you don’t necessarily stop it from happening. I’m not arguing for massive across-the-board liberalization in American drug policy (not now, anyway), but I am arguing that opposition to making liquor sales on Sunday legal only drives those who want to buy alcohol on Sundays north to Missouri. There goes tax dollars, and here comes back potentially tipsy or drunk Arkansans who had to drive several miles to get their drink on. What would you rather have? The liquor store open, or drunks on the highway?
I know I’ve got a little self-righteousness going on here, but really, I just don’t see the logic. I cannot understand. To me, it’s not a question of whether anyone “needs” alcohol on Sundays, or “needs” to buy alcohol in a given county. It’s 2006, for crying out loud! Have the last 100 years gotten us nowhere?