Happy Repeal Day

Posted by Seth Kramer on Tuesday, December 5th 2006 at 10:45pm



December 5, 1933 the 21st amendment--which repealed the 18th amendment prohibiting the manufacture, sale, transportation, or import of alcohol--was passed.

Back in the late 1910s there was a war on and the world was new and different. The rise of immigration meant the power of the Anglo-Saxon was waning. These newly impotent decendants of early English settlers found new ways of exerting power including nativism through immigration restrictions, and racism and hatred toward non-Protestants through rapidly growing quasi-religious groups like the KKK. The growth of fundamentalism and a hatred of (predomanantly German-owned) breweries instilled (pun intended) in the temperance movement both a religious and patriotic furvor. Which foisted a poorly thought out infringement upon the liberties for which our soldiers were dying upon an unsuspecting nation.

Well I for one say thank god this sort of thing doesn't happen any more. We are fortunate that we don't live in a country where a growing group of noisy religious folk use our country's religious heritage and natural patriotism to strip away the rights of the few so that they may make people who are different feel uncomfortable or possibly criminal.

I lift my dirty martini to you all, here's to Repeal Day.

I'm feeling a little drunk
Play dress up: with Rummy