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Tilting at Windmills.
Socialism is defined as a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. More generally, though, we call something socialism if the government controls even a single aspect of production, distribution, or exchange. Take singe-payer healthcare, as an example. It takes over the exchange of healthcare from free enterprise. And people in red states, by and large, hate it. They hate it for good reason. It’s an absolute trainwreck and doesn’t benefit anyone, really. What’s funny is how many of those people in red states have socialism right in their back yard. See, 2023 saw me really get into whiskey as a hobby and not as a method to get intoxicated. In Georgia, I can hit a bunch of liquor stores and compare prices, build relationships with management, and acquire a collection of quality whiskeys—mostly bourbon—in a way that benefits both me and the liquor stores I choose to frequent. Next door in Alabama, I can’t really do that. Alabama is an alcohol beverage control state. All sales of spirits for off-premises consumption is through state-owned liquor stores. That means prices are controlled and inventory is controlled at these stores. People can’t necessarily buy what they want and what a store owner wants to sell them. They can only buy what a bureaucrat will let them buy. This is, for all intents and purposes, socialist control of the liquor trade. Now, before it seems like I’m picking on Alabama, I’m not. There are a number of red states with similar restrictions, including Iowa, Idaho, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Mississippi, among other states that tend to vote Republican for statewide offices also have states that control at least some aspect of the liquor trade. And before someone figures it’s just some holdover from evangelical temperance ideologies, let’s remember that a number of non-red states also have alcohol beverage control laws such as Oregon, Maine, and Vermont. Among others. While I’m exempt from having to deal with this kind of nonsense, I don’t like seeing socialism exist in the United States. Socialism never provides the best for consumers—some Alabama whiskey appreciators report having to pay a markup higher than what they find in non-ABC states, for example. Instead, it’s simply about control. ABC laws are a holdover from the temperance movement that created Prohibition. When that fiasco was repealed, states were still allowed their level of control, which some took up. Yet they don’t actually mitigate people’s drinking and, so far as I can tell, doesn’t actually produce enough “profit” to justify this intrusion into the free market. Honestly, it’s time we start seeing this nonsense ended and allow free trade in liquor sales and distribution. © 2024 Tom Knighton |
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