Dry Counties

Also, the regional thing only speaks to my point; the South (read: Baptists) and Midwest are highly religious

 

I would suggest there is something of a terminological disagreement between you and @5thOhio. (Or perhaps it's a levels of analysis situation.)

Yes, religion is/was one motivation force behind the movement to create the Volstead act, but it was also even more a banner under which many opponents of alcohol came together (e.g. those who wanted women to have the vote, those in rural areas who distrusted changes and or differences, etc.). When national prohibition went away it was in large part because many had come to realize it was a "failed experiment."

If the sole cause underlying the creation of prohibition had been religion there's a problem with explaining why prohibition went away but religion did not. While it seems to be the case that in this era anti-alcohol is associated with some religions, that strong resistance to allowing alcohol for others does tend to be in the more fundamentalist areas of the country, which tend to be among the most rural as well.

This guy has presentented what many regard as a definitive analysis:

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Ri...F8&qid=1479382767&sr=1-1&keywords=prohibition

 

Agreed. Your first paragraph was my entire point. It was the common thread between groups of people who had no other common thread, perhaps aside from race. I've never tried to posit anything else. Perhaps too much was read from my three word joke.

I don't see why there's any problem with explaining why religion did not go away along with Prohibiton though. They moved on to other causes, much like they'll do with gay marriage and much like they did with dancing in the past. However, there will always be traces left within certain denominations, just like with alcohol prohibiton.

Thanks for the book recommendation as well!

 

Better hurry up, you've got less than 2 months left to complain about having to buy a case of beer (I guess that's what this comment is referring to --- and actually, it's been a 12-pack for awhile now) at a Pennsylvania distributor:

Somewhat sad to see it go in a way (easy for me to say, since I lived in NY or NJ when I've shopped PA's distributors for the last 5 decades) --- ah, it really hasn't been much fun to load up the handtruck since the returnable/refillable deposit bottles disappeared (save for Straub's, but they don't seem to make it east anymore, either).

 

Did not know Texas had dry counties?

 

Yes, I am peeing my paints with anticipation to be able to by a friggin' 6 pack at a distributor! Which is absolutely ridiculous! ...finally...

BTW, there is a lot of discussion about religion's influence over alcohol sales, but here in PA it is entirely political. "Deregulation" is coming very slowly, in part due to the liquor store unions and their strong ties to government here.

Anyhows, thank God things are finally changing.

 

I think you're actually missing the real cause of continued prohibitionist policies and absurd liquor laws, while religious endorsements help them stay on the books, the real reason many laws that reduce access to alcohol is money. Dollars and cents.

Why does Indiana continue to ban the sale of cold beer outside liquor store sales and liquor store sales on Sundays? Because the state liquor store lobby is extremely strong and they want those dollars coming from their stores and not to Kroger/Walmart/Speedway.

Why didn't Colorado (a state where you can buy weed on just about every street corner legally) completely remove the 3.2 abw restriction on beer in large retailers? Because of the liquor store lobby crying that they were small businesses who somehow deserved special state protection of their business models.

Why do several states still run liquor sales exclusively through the state? They really enjoy the huge amounts of revenue.

There are always going to be prohibitionist religious people who cheer on these things as well, but to assume they're the root cause overstates their importance in the modern electorate in most localities. My experience with the dry city I grew up in was that the loudmouthed people who wanted the city to remain dry were smart enough to build a lot of complicated barriers to overturning the dry city rules. For example, IIRC there was a law that the dry city issue could only be voted on in years when there would never be a Presidential or Senate election reducing voter turnout to those who vote in relatively unimportant elections.

 

Come to think of it, Level Cross is right there with Randleman and Asheboro, heading south on US 220 (I-73). I believe Lee Petty and his brood may have known a bit about race cars and white liquor.

 

The county I grew up was never dry during my lifetime, but it was illegal to sell liquor by the drink up until a few years ago. So, none of the bars, clubs or restaurants were allowed to sell liquor, only wine and beer. As a result, people would just brown bag their liquor and take it into wherever. That may or may not have been legal, can't remember.

I've also lived in a county where the rural areas were dry but not inside town limits. That was odd, to me.

 

In the pre liquor by the drink days, there was a "brown-bagging" law that allowed an individual to take his/her choice of liquor to an appropriately licensed bar, restaurant, country club, etc. and they would keep it for you and sometimes make your drinks. It was awkward but way cheaper than today's pricing!

 

Oh my, you're right. It's worse than communism. I'd move.