Dry Counties

Three towns in my county are varying levels of dryness:

Newark Valley - No on-premises consumption (ie restaurants can't sell alcohol but gas stations can).

Richford - No on-premises consumption except for hotels.

Berkshire - Was completely dry until last Tuesday. A new General Store opened up in town and the owner got a referendum on the ballot to allow that store and only that store to sell alcohol. It passed 69-31.

 

One word: simplistic.

• Islam is opposed to the consumption of alcohol.

• Judaism, to my knowledge, has no opposition to moderate use of alcohol.

• Christianity is a mixed bag. The denominations that originated in Great Britain, e.g. Baptists, Methodists and their offshoots, oppose the consumption of alcohol. Eurpoean-based denominations like Catholics, Lutherans and their offshoots, have no disagreements with moderate alcohol use.

Can't speak to the eastern religions. Not that familiar with their tenets.

 

I'd like to know who is counting the votes in a place like that.

 

We have such an ingrained drinking culture here, it never occurs to me that there are places in this country where it is that hard for an adult to have a beer. Of course there are also downsides to that, but for the most part I am very grateful for the tavern league of Wisconsin and the work they do on my behalf.

 

Great points. If you take Islam and Judaism off the table and just talk about Christianity, then we're left with how many denominations, it's got to be thousands, that can't agree on any number of things. And we don't have to talk in terms of counties; you need look no further than the first three pews of any place of worship.

 

Well, I actually lived for a while in a county where there was a referendum to switch from dry to wet. Lots of folks lobbying on both sides running up to the day of the voting. The ballot count was done by hand and there were both a couple of stay dry folks and a couple of change to wet folks who were doing the counting and the cross checking. Pretty much the way it's typically done for most such voting situations. (Neither side intends to let the other do all the counting and tallying of votes without their participation. )

 

Sounds fair to me.

 

So who won?

 

They stayed dry.

 

My condolences.

 

Not really all that simplistic. Prohibitionist alcohol policies are overwhelmingly tied to religion in this country. Sure, I should have specified Christianity (edit: Baptists, etc), but I thought that it pretty obvious that we were talking about America.

It's the reason I couldn't buy beer on Sundays at one point, why there was/is "grocery store liquor," and why some states have 3-2 beer limits. The glaring exception are states with large indigenous populations that limit alcohol for public health reasons.

 

It must've been rigged. When one of the go wet guys went to go wet, a stay dry guy stole enough of the wet votes. Happens all of the time. In other words medical marijuana is years away from approval all over the place......

 

Well of course. If I lose the sytem was rigged. If I win all is right with the world. :-)

 

Brew your own.

 

Luckily not in Iowa. And I'm too young to even remember the State run liquor shops. And no 3.2% laws in a decade or so either.

I can buy beer in a grocery store or gas station. Cold and at the same time as buying orange juice.

And on Sunday (suck it Minnesota )

 

The county I live in is a little weird. On Sundays, the northern portion of the county is dry and the southern portion, along with other municipalities, can begin sales at 12 noon. Religion vs. economy. Luckily for me, the next county over is a 12 minute drive and the alcohol sales on Sundays isn't an issue.

 

You skipped Judaism which is also prevalent in the US.

And, yes, protestant denominations played a large part, but if you actually study Prohibitionist policies, both during the era of the Volstead amendment as well as neo-prohibition you'll find it was and remains a collection of disparate groups.

The Progressives of the early 20th century were in favor of Prohibition because they believed it would make people better workers and better citizens of the state. The Nationalist patriotic movements during and after World War One supported Prohibiton because it was anti-beer and therefore anti-German and, they also believed, it would help the war effort by curtailing the use of grain for alcohol.

Among neo-prohibitionists there is the same sentiment as other groups who want to dictate what you can eat or drink, on the basis that they know better than you what is good for you and you'll be healthier and safer if you don't drink.

And the simplistic (yes, simplistic) view that it's all the fault of religion ignores that it's more a regional/denominational sentiment. During the Volstead era it was mostly the South and Midwest, that is, rural areas that supported prohibiton. The more urban areas of the North and West---not so much.

Here's some information on neo-prohibitionism. Hardly a "religion" in the bunch if you check the links:
https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/Controversies/20070604112246.html

 

Let's go down to the distributor, get a case and discuss arcane alcohol laws.

 

San Diego is considering becoming a dry county.

Kidding. We're always drunk here.

 

Again, not quite the whole story. You'd be hard pressed to separate the progressives at the turn of the century from their religious beliefs (e.g. Hull Houses). They saw themselves as a Christianizing force. Yes, the anti-German movement played a temporary role. You forgot the income tax, which made Prohibition possible due to the federal government's reliance on alcohol taxes for funding. You also forgot to mention women who viewed alcohol as an evil which perpetuated domestic violence and sapped their family's economic stability. See, I am quite well versed on the topic.

However, I'd still argue that the protestant religion was the constant undergirding that allowed Prohibiton to become a reality...and persist into the 21st century. Without it, I'm not sure alcohol is ever illegal. So yes, I think you can reduce it somewhat simply to that. I never meant to imply that it was the ONLY reason. It was meant as a funny response that I think a lot of people can relate to (no Sunday sales, etc), but it's led to all this....

Not sure why you mentioned Judaism. I never said it had anything to do with prohibiton. There was no movement within Judaism to ban alcohol and it even served as an unintentional front for many "Rabbis" who needed sacramental wine.