Our state legislature is in session and once again, a bill to change Georgia’s “blue laws” has been introduced. The bill, if enacted, would allow local jurisdictions to let voters decide whether or not beer and wine can be sold on Sundays. I purchase beer and wine, and don’t have any problem with drinking it on Sundays, so naturally this is of interest to me. Currently, the statewide rule is that on Sundays, Georgians can only purchase beer and wine at restaurants, and they must consume the beverage on the premises. If you want to drink alcohol in your home on Sunday, you must have the foresight to purchase it before midnight on Saturday night (or you can drive to another state and get it, if that floats your boat). We are one of only three states with this restriction. This particular state law is intended to force people to conform to the religious idea of Sunday as a “day of rest” or some such. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes want to rest with a tall, cold one or a nice glass of shiraz. And some days, having to get cleaned up and go out to a restaurant to get one is not particularly restful. Plus there is the whole driving home afterward thing to deal with…
I don’t give this bill much of a chance for survival, even though a majority of Georgians are for it. Heck, in the metro Atlanta area a whopping 80% of citizens in a recent poll were in favor of letting voters decide. The bill doesn’t force a change on anyone, it merely allows local people to arrange things to the satisfaction of the majority of voters. I’m sure some communities would keep the ban. I haven’t heard any completely rational arguments for why we need blue laws. Most of the arguments center on religion, not rationality. I believe that if respecting the Lord’s Day is important to you, then you are free to do that on any day of your choosing. What you should not be free to do is to demand compliance from others. People can do just about anything on Sunday that is legal to do on any other day of the week. It makes no sense to arbitrarily restrict this one thing. And yet, every time an attempt is made to change the law, it fails. This time will be no different. Even if the bill manages to make it past the legislature, the governor has already not-so-subtly hinted that he’ll veto it. Clearly, in this case he feels that his opinion trumps the will of the people who elected him.
Why am I ranting about this? It isn’t very important in the grand scheme of things. It isn’t a total ban, but is more of an inconvenient limitation. It isn’t a rule that I spend much time thinking about, and if I want a drink on a Sunday, I find a way to legally get one. Basically, I am ranting because in this case, our representative government is failing its citizens. Clearly, the majority of people want the blue laws to change, and the government continues to stifle their wishes in order to please a small minority. It is frustrating and wrong. And kind of stupid.
9 comments:
It's bullcrap and it needs to change. I am not affiliated with any religion and I don't feel the need to tell other people that they need to do the same. It is important to rant about this because there is no reason for this law to exist except to appease the religious right.
It would seem as if this is a christian biased law. In Ohio you have to obtain a special liquor license to sell on Sunday and an extra special license to sell any alcohol over 8 proof I think it is, anyway you are restricted to selling beer. Also I think this is an appropriate topic to use one of my favorite quotes...
"Beer is proof that God exists and that he loves us."
-Benjamin Franklin
Here's to hoping you get the legislation you need.
CHEERS!
We have blue laws in New Jersey, too. And I grew up in Massachusetts, with some blue laws dating back to Puritan times. Thankfully, many have been eliminated, or at least they're ignored. For example, it used to be a crime to sit on your front porch on Sunday, or play a musical instrument on Sunday.
The county I live in in New Jersey is the only one where most stores are still closed on Sunday. The irony is that in this county there is a town that is the shopping mall capital of the country. In this town, Paramus, there are more parking spaces than citizens. It has more retail shopping per square whatever than anywhere else. There are five major malls and about a dozen large strip malls shopping centers. There are like 3 Barnes & Nobles within a square mile or two. And virtually every store is closed on Sunday. The other irony is that there is a large Orthodox Jewish population in the county, and they can't shop on Saturday. But every time it comes up on the ballot, it gets voted down. I think the Paramus-ites just want one day a week where their roads and highways aren't totally jammed, which I can appreciate, having been stuck in that traffic countless times. But it's also a major pain in the butt.
Yer s'posed t' be in church on Sunday, girl, not drinkin'! This is th' South, y' know!
That reminded me a lot of Kansas. When I was in college out there, you couldn't buy anything on Sunday except 3.2 beer. For that matter, you couldn't buy anything stronger than 3.2 beer anywhere in Kansas at that time except for the state-run liquor stores and private clubs. At least state regulation kept booze fairly cheap. But it was a pain in the ass to buy a club card for every bar you wanted to go to (except for the 3.2 beer bars). Since I left there, they've loosened up the liquor laws some - it's no longer necessary to belong to a club if you want to go out for a drink, for example.
The weirdest story about Kansas liquor laws I heard was from a friend of mine who flew from St. Louis to Los Angeles about that time. She told me that when the plane went over the Kansas border, the stewardesses took up all the drinks and closed the bar. Then, when the plane left Kansas, the drinks came back out. Even at 35,000 feet over the state, you still couldn't drink in Kansas without a club card. I believe they finally changed that law as well.
Michigan still has minor blue laws which don't really bother me. They are: Can't buy alcohol on Sunday before noon. I remember the first time I went to another state and people were buying beer on a Sunday before noon and I was very confused. I had thought it was a national law. The other is can't buy alcohol on Christmas Day. I suppose that one isn't fair to the Jews and Hindus and Muslims, etc. who live here, and the year my brother was in charge of bringing the beer to my sister's for Christmas it was a mild inconvenience as he didn't realise you couldn't buy that day, but compared to the other states mentioned, we're quite liberal.
Oh yeah, your second comment at my blog made me laugh out loud.
You're right in everything you say; but, having lived here for almost twenty years, I'm used to religion overlaying politics. While that usually bothers me, for some reason, in this instance it doesn't. If I want something to drink, I can get it ahead of time; and, if I forget, I get over the minor annoyance quickly.
It's only been recently that liquor stores in NY could be open on Sundays (liquor stores sell hard liquor and wine here; beer is in supermarkets and could be sold after noon on Sundays). But if I understand the law correctly, if a liquor store opens on Sunday, it must close one day during the week.
Which makes no sense whatsoever.
And why can't NY supermarkets sell wine? (It means I can't buy those cheapo wines at Trader Joe's!)
wa11z - Exactly!
taylor - love that Ben Franklin quote. He was a wise man.
twg - I read about that NJ situation and found it odd. I remember when I first moved to MA, the stores couldn't be open on new year's day. That was a surprise.
dr s - Kansas has an iron grip on its airspace, too? You learn something every day.
kat - LOL, I just felt bad for being such an unabashed Toyota fan. Plus I still have the memory of that horrid rental Taurus poisoning my mind. It's not my fault!
dave - we plan ahead also, but still... why should we have to? It all seems very arbitrary.
jim - No three buck chuck? That is a tragedy. The TJs here (all two of them) are new to this state. They had to negotiate something with the government to allow them to sell Charles Shaw wines. There is some rule about private label wines they were up against. Glad they worked it out (but you still can't buy them on Sundays).
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