In this morning’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, both the opponents and proponents of the bill allowing cities or counties to vote on permitting Sunday alcohol sales in their local communities presented their case on why the legislation should pass or fail.
The best way to describe both editorials is fear versus the facts.
Sadie Fields, head of the Georgia Christian Alliance, attempts to scare readers into opposing the bill by saying the legislation would make “an endless supply of alcohol available” on Sundays.
Jim Tudor, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, tells the truth when he writes, “all that SB 16 does [...] is allow county and city voters to determine how dry their county is going to be.” [Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Community votes on Sunday alcohol sales: PRO: It’s local control, not an attack on values", February 25, 2009]
Sadie Fields presents statistics stating that fatal auto crashes increased by 42% in New Mexico after their Sunday alcohol sales ban was repealed. But then, she points out the sheer hypocrisy of Georgia’s antiquated blue laws by writing:
It’s one thing to have a few drinks at a football game or a restaurant, which is currently permitted in our state. In those cases, there is always a barrier, a bartender or waitress to stop the flow of booze. It’s certainly different when you can load up a case of beer and hit the road —- and the statistics prove it.Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Community votes on Sunday alcohol sales: CON: Safety, families worth more than cash”, February 25, 2009
Essentially Fields just argued that it is acceptable to walk into your local Hooters or Taco Mac (the one on Peachtree Industrial in Duluth is quite good) on a Sunday, have a few drinks, then get behind the wheel for the drive home; but if you want to head on down to your local Kroger, pick up a six-pack of Budweiser (which isn’t even American owned anymore, but we’ll discuss that later) to enjoy in the comfort of your own home on a Sunday while the Falcons are on, then you shouldn’t be able to do it.
As I’ve written before, you can oppose Sunday alcohol sales but support Senate Bill 16 because the legislation simply gives each local city or county the right to vote on the issue. The Snellville City Council proved Monday that having the right to vote on Sunday alcohol sales doesn’t necessarily mean that Sunday alcohol sales will be approved.
So the question is which side of the debate will state legislators fall on; fear or the facts.
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I think Sadie Fields should lighten up and have a glass of wine next Sunday.
Sadly this is a case of my fellow Christians trying to impose their own morality on the state. I think if they’d ask the WWJD question they might come up with a different position. Jesus never made anyone do anything and his first miracle was turning water into wine. He respected free will. These folks should do the same.
Someone should ask Ms. Fields if she ever does anything that requires someone else to work on Sunday.
Alcohol sales tends to attract businesses that employ low wage Democrats. I do not want my neighborhood overwhelmed by THOSE kinds of people. Nor do I want my servants liquored up before a work day. If I had my way, it would be illegal to sell alcohol to the lower sort especially the Irish.
I think Sadie Fields should lighten up and have a glass of wine next Sunday.
God would probably smite her.
If these Christians were really following the word of the bible, then they would be practicing the Sabbath on the actual/original day of Saturday.
If Sadie Fields and her alliance of Christians were alive during the time of Jesus Christ, they’d likely be among those calling for his crucifixion because Jesus healed men on the Sabbath and turned water into wine just to name a few of his many miracles.
Ramblinwreck has it right. Most of the “blue laws” that pepper the American landscape (many of which have now ben repealed, but not all) came about in the long line of Puritan nonesense inherited from a particularly unhappy crew of English “dissenters.” To suggest that Christianity bars moderate drinking is a calumny!
Even the preacher at my Baptist church admits there is no prohibition against drinking. There are references to not drinking “much wine” and not doing anything to cause your brother, fellow Christian, to stumble. But, no where in the Gospel does Jesus ever force anyone to do anything except when he ejected the money changers from the temple. These folks who want to keep this from coming up for a vote should remove the plank from their own eye before trying to remove teh speck from mine.
It’s unfortunate the bill is called Sunday Alcohol Sales. It should be called, county authority wins the day, or something.
It is so unfortunate to me that the Christian community makes an ass of itself on these type things, promoting state tyranny in the name of a “good cause” and in the end just looking self-righteous and ridiculous. Once again the emPHAsis is on the wrong sylLAble.
Local control is most representational of the will of the people. Now, someone please call me a libertarian, and I shall be so complimented.
Jenny,
Personally, I think you’d be a great addition to our ranks.
I’m just trying to figure out who paid Andre to post this
Fields and her ilk should grow moustaches,they would fit right in with that guy that ran Germany once upon a time and he was no friend of liberty.
And yet you all follow these christian crows when it comes to issues of illegal abortion (you all favor them over current legally performed procedures).
Sunday sales and abortion. Both a favorite with the religious right who seek manipulation of the political system to assert their ‘special brand’ of morality over us all.
Rick:
Abortion is a legitimate issue of contention, and will be so long as the question of exactly when life begins is in doubt. Though I personally agree more with Jenny on this one, I can adopt the more party-line LP position publicly and be content there so long as the issue is in doubt. Anything I do as myself, I will push more along Jenny’s lines, anything I do as any kind of official representation of the Libertarian Party, I will push its stance more.
All that said, Sunday Alcohol Sales is PURELY driven by religious fundamentalists of certain divisions of certain religions. (And the liquor store owners who don’t want to be open on Sunday.)
Of course, in some ways, I kinda hope the Senate kills the measure. Has anyone else noticed that the VAST majority of postings on the issue over at AJC.com have very libertarian leanings??
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