We're a little late to the party with this one but Nick Gillespie of Reason.tv sits down to talk to Burns about his three-part documentary, Prohibition, the last leg of which airs tonight on PBS. (Video: 13 minutes)
Slavery was our worst idea. I'm not sure I'd put prohibition second but it's really up there.
What struck us is that Prohibition was enabled by probably the broadest and most diverse political coalitions of social conservative and progressive factions ever assembled in American politics. We suppose that if you are going to ban booze in this great country of ours, you'd better have all your bases covered.
the re-write to the Volstead Act, better known as the "The Day the Beer Flowed Again." B-Daddy here, commemorating what must be a high holy day for a blog site named Beers with Demo. Prohibition, a result of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, was still in effect on April 7, 1933. But the 18th amendment had not defined the term "intoxicating liquors." Congress had passed the Volstead Act in October 1919, defining intoxicating beverages at greater than 0.5% alcohol. Fast forward to 1933 and the country is in a depression, prohibition is widely flaunted and FDR had won election to the Presidency promising a repeal of prohibition. Still, a constitutional amendment takes time to repeal, so the quick fix to get brewery workers back on the job and create a market for grain farmers, was to change the definition of intoxicating beverage to greater than 3.2% alcohol, the traditional value for beer of the era. Very quickly the states ratified the 21st Amendment, ending prohibition in most of the country. The mood of the country is captured here:
Of course, B-Daddy has some lessons learned.
Repealing prohibition turned alcohol from a drain on the Treasury to a source of revenue. Anything else we prohibit that might have a similarly beneficial effect?
Prohibition was based on the notion that we could legislate human goodness. We cannot.
Badly written law undermines the entire concept of the rule of law, because of widespread disobedience.
Prohibition sets the stage for corruption.
Prohibition and gun control both seek to solve complex societal ills by banning inanimate objects. This approach seldom works.
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