Prohibitionists. Good guys or bad guys?

[Ernie]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... uys-523052

Read and then discuss. Posting not allowed until you read the whole article!

[Soloist]

Personally I think the article is stupid

As for the argument from a Biblical basis, I think we got misled to take a stand against it or even the extreme position that Jesus turned water into grape juice.

We shouldn't get involved in politics and I seem to remember a preacher talking about this and referenced Billy Sunday who if I'm remembering correctly, he took a strong stance on this and then his son became an alcoholic. The primary issue was drunkenness and the law ended up criminalizing something that wasn't sinful.

[ragpicker]

It’s rubbish. Trying to prove something wasn’t bad by pointing out all the people that supported it is beyond stupid. That is his premier argument in this article.

He reminds me of people that come up with a position then scour the Bible to back up their position.

[Ken]

Like most culture war issues (and prohibition was an early example of culture war) there was good and bad.

There was also a heavy mix of anti-immigrant and nativist politics mixed up with prohibition as this Smithsonian article describes: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithson ... 180969266/

And there was a racial element as this article titled "How Prohibition fueled the KKK" describes: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opin ... -klan.html

Bottom line? In my opinion it is probably a good early example of why politics and religion shouldn't mix. The first example was probably the Civil War as religion was weaponized to support both the north and south. Prohibition is probably the second big example of religion and politics mixing in a massive social movement.

[RZehr]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... uys-523052

Read and then discuss. Posting not allowed until you read the whole article!

What an odd thesis.

[Ken]

I did read the whole thing. "Predatory liquor trust" sounds like a lot of nonsense. There were thousands of small breweries, wineries, and distilleries across America prior to prohibition. It was the quintessential small or medium American business prior to prohibition. Every town and city had small breweries. It was only after prohibition that big businesses like Coors and Budweiser gained a stranglehold.

The whole history of Americans using liquor to exploit the native populations was certainly a tragedy. But prohibition did nothing to change that.

[temporal1]

It’s wildly popular to use Prohibition as The Prime example of why cherry-picked mandates are dismissed because they “won’t work.”
i think it’s lazy, as well as convenient and manipulative.

The world has changed a lot since the Prohibition years.
Those were years when most people knew nothing of the subjugation now taken for granted. It was a different time+place, in every way. Today’s culture has many voting for more subjugation, not less, and to raise their own taxes, convinced government knows best, and it will all be ok, as long as more money is thrown in.

Each year, thousands of new laws are passed. How many increase freedoms and/or lower taxes of legal citizens??

Congress has enacted approximately 200–600 statutes during each of its 115 biennial terms so that more than 30,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789.

That’s just federal law. ^^ Add state+local laws, too.

His point about exploiting tribalism (for political leveraging) is now off the charts. To a mind-numbing extent.
Government should not be in competition with hollywood, sports, or even literature, for entertainment value.

It’s primitive and destructive. i hope, “this, too, shall pass.” it’s bad enough to have elections every 4 years.
24/7/365 is neurotic.

[mike]

Yeah, it's a strange article; it seems like the writer is just poking his stick at the topic to see if it will squeal.

Reminded me of an album of Prohibition-era songs put out by one of the better vocal groups out there. It's well-done, funny, and tells you some things about the spirit of the times.

All-American Songs of Temperance and Temptation

Featuring the songs and stories of 19th-century Temperance Union meetings, old-time gospel, ragtime, Victorian parlor songs, 1920s anti-Prohibition tunes, and one of Irving Berlin’s best show-stoppers, it’s The Rose Ensemble like you’ve never heard before!

[ragpicker]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... uys-523052

Read and then discuss. Posting not allowed until you read the whole article!

What an odd thesis.

But he’s an expert doncha know!!!

[MaxPC]

Yeah, it's a strange article; it seems like the writer is just poking his stick at the topic to see if it will squeal.

It has been many years since I have heard this colloquialism; it has always been one of my favorites. Thank you for dusting it off in my memories.