Today is the 75th anniversary of the end of national prohibition on alcohol in these United States. Bottoms up!
I'll Drink to That!
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I'll drink to that! Carpe Volstead.
I don't drink; but I'll celebrate the right to do so, anyway.
Don, You wrote a fascinating piece this January in The Freeman on the little-known central character in alcohol's prohibition and repeal: federal taxation.
Here's the link:
http://www.fee.org/Publications/the-Freeman/article.asp?aid=8231
I'll drink to the fact that at least once the government admitted they'd screwed up royally…and reversed themselves.
Now I'd like it to admit they've been treating GM like Rasputin for six decades…and might finally have killed it.
Prohibition was repealed because a majority of right thinking Americans passed an amendment to make it so. Alcohol prohibition led to crime and injustice that had not existed prior to prohibition. It is time for right thinking Americans to once again do the right thing and legalize marijuana. Marijuana prohibition is based on lies and obfuscations that have led to a severe deterioration of our civil liberties. Likewise, it has led to new crime and criminality that would otherwise never have risen. It has led to children/young adults growing up distrusting all information about truly dangerous drugs, because they find out quickly after trying pot that the warnings were overblown. The prohibition of substances is one of the biggest market distortions a government may inflict, and the unseen costs are miriad and astronomical.
Prohibition was repealed not because of the crime it produced;
it was repealed because the government hates competition, and they realized that millions of dollars were being made despite their laws, and they had to legalize it to get there share of the loot.
They'd love to be able to tax the drug trade, but it's a loser at the polls, and they can't figure out how to do it, and still get reelected.
I just wish there was a more coherent argument in the public square for legalizing instead of the clowns currently representing the cause. (Reason editors, your office is calling.)