Monday, December 16, 2013

I'll drink to that!

Today is the anniversary of the END OF PROHIBITION....an interesting experiment in controlling peoples lives, and their reactions to that attempted control.

80 years ago, our ancestors were once again able to (legally) buy and consume alcohol. Not that any of them who had wished to do so the day before wouldn't have been able to do so.

Prohibition didn't do much to stop people from consuming (and abusing) booze, much like the current "war on Drugs" hasn't done much to stop people from gaining access to illegal substances to impair the mental processes. Nor like the highly restrictive firearms laws in "Blue" cities that really don't do much to keep firearms from the folks who want them.

What Prohibition DID do was make fortunes for those willing to supply a demand, legal or not. Joe Kennedy became rich bootlegging booze. Prior to the 18th amendment,  there was no real "Organized Crime"...there were folks such as Capone, but until there was a market for illegal booze (and the enormous profits from supplying it), he really was just a small time hood. Same in many larger cities. The biggest thug organized the smuggling (and distribution)of liquor, and gained money and power.

Think the banning of anything today will be any different? Maybe if we made drugs more illegaler or something then those folks would stop smuggling them over our borders.

Today, reflect on the fact that no one could stop the flow of a relatively bulky and heavy commodity, booze, from coming onto our shores, and being transported along our highways to customers willing to pay top dollar for a (sometimes) inferior product.

Now think guns or drugs.

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