The Attitude Problem

To follow up on yesterday's post, George Della quickly dropped his proposal to outlaw beer pong But that is not really the story I'd like to focus on here.

I'd like to focus more on attitude, particularly the attitude of legislators to try and legislate our way into social order. You have Della's bill outlawing beer pong. You have attempts to outlaw texting while driving. This gets added to a number of other behavioral bills that we have seen over the years; smoking in bars, smoking in homes, smoking in private homes (at least in the Montgomery County fiasco from a few years back), mandating seat belt use, banning trans-fats. Greg Kline keeps a whole list of bills to legislate how we eat during episodes of the Conservative Refuge. Communities across the country mandate participation in recycling programs. All of this examples deal with government trying to overlegislate human behavior.

Is that any way to live? Is this any way to treat free people? Of course it's not. But government officials (usually Democrats) always try to come up with new ways to limit freedom, to limit the ability of people to enjoy the fruits of our American way of life. Most of them are patently unenforceable. A lot of them certainly do not stop certain human behaviors; people still smoke, people still choose not to wear their seatbelt, and elected officials still (allegedly) have sex in public. A law is not going to stop certain behaviors that are objectionable to some other people. You socially engineer people through legislation in a free society.

George Della's foray into beer pong just goes to display the lengths that we have Americans have allowed politicians to convince us that our safety and our ability to regulate our own lives need to be sacrificed in order for the greater good. All the while Della tries to overregulate the lives of regular Baltimoreans, Della was doing bumpkis to lower Baltimore's crime rate, get drugs off of city streets, create economic incentives for city job creation, and provide city students with a decent education. All of those things went unaccounted for as Della worried about beer pong.

That sis the larger attitude problem. Elected officials would rather pass on doing the hard work that is needed, and instead do the easy but meaningless things to get their name in print. That's the attitude that we as Marylanders need to fight. We need to expect more from our elected officials, and demand that they stop nannying us to death....

Della goes Balls Deep

Apparently all of Baltimore City's problems have been solved. Why else would State Senator George Della of Baltimore City introduce legislation aimed at beer pong in the city?

Don't believe me? Here's some verbiage directly from the text of the legislation:

(B) A HOLDER OF A RETAIL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES LICENSE OR
OWNER OR OPERATOR OF A BOTTLE CLUB MAY NOT PROMOTE, ENCOURAGE, OR ALLOW ON THE PREMISES A GAME COMMONLY KNOWN AS BEER PONG OR ANY OTHER GAME OR CONTEST THAT INVOLVES DRINKING ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES OR THE AWARDING OF DRINKS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AS PRIZES.

Really? Is this really necessary? Do we really need to impugn on the freedom of Baltimore City residents, businesses, and bar patrons by micromanaging the lives of its citizenry like this? Does this really need to be a state issue?

Oh.....and did the homicides, rampant drug used, urban decay, and ghastly public schools in Baltimore City suddenly get fixed over night? Because otherwise, Senator Della is seriously asleep at the switch.

There is no other way to say this: Senator Della needs to loosen up, get a life, and focus on the legitimate problems that Baltimore City has. And I assure you the beer pong is far, far, FAR from the list of priorities facing the city. And you never know; if this Carrie Nation act keeps up, maybe another team of rivals will form to bring some common sense to the situation...

Bottoms Up

We talked extensively about this on RedMaryland Radio tonight, but I wanted to say a few things here about this:

Top university officials in Maryland - including the chancellor of the state university system and the president of the Johns Hopkins University - say the current drinking age of 21 "is not working" and has led to dangerous binges in which students have harmed themselves and others.

Six college presidents in Maryland are among more than 100 college and university presidents nationwide who have signed a statement calling for a public debate on rethinking the drinking age.

"Kids are going to drink whether it's legal or illegal," said Johns Hopkins President William R. Brody, who supports lowering the drinking age to 18. "We'd at least be able to have a more open dialogue with students about drinking as opposed to this sham where people don't want to talk about it because it's a violation of the law."

The presidents of the University of Maryland, College Park; Towson University; the College of Notre Dame of Maryland; Goucher College; Washington College and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute signed the statement, along with the presidents of Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State University.

"How many times must we relearn the lessons of prohibition?" the statement says. "Adults under 21 are deemed capable of voting, signing contracts, serving on juries and enlisting in the military, but are told they are not mature enough to have a beer."

And I say "here, here." The only reason that we have a "national" drinking age is because the Federal Government tied in highway funding to the 21-year old standard; if your drinking age wasn't 21, you didn't get your share of the pie. And that's a pretty dumb way to make public policy and and a cheap way to coerce states into doing what you can't do legislatively.

If you are old enough to sign a contract, serve in the military, and do things that require you to attain the age of 18, you are old enough to purchase and consume alcohol legally. This is a no-brainer and I have no idea why this movement hasn't come sooner than it has. The commitment to keeping 21 as the legal drinking age makes little legislative or policy sense, and certainly does not pass the test of common sense. The Presidents should be applauded for supporting logical action.

My only disappointment? My alma mater, which is a signatory to the foolish American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, couldn't be bothered to sign on to this much more useful endeavor...

Beerfest!

Glad to see that Attorney General Doug Gansler has solved all of Maryland's problems regarding crime, punishment, and ensuring that we prosecute criminals to the fullest extent of the law. Gives him plenty of time to deal with this:

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and public health advocates launched a campaign Tuesday to make sure drinks like Mike's Hard Lemonade and Jack Daniel's Black Jack Cola are considered legally the same as liquor, not beer.

Yes, the Attorney General is concerning himself with the consumption of alcohol and how one defines said alcohol. Seriously. And, of all things, the entire controversy seems to revolve around two things: tax dollars and teenagers.

The legislature is considering a bill backed by alcohol manufacturers and distributors that would classify the beverages as beer, overruling an opinion that Gansler issued this month declaring such beverages -- loosely termed "alcopops" -- to be spirits under the law because of how they are made and because of evidence that they are popular among teenagers. The opinion effectively changes the way the drinks have been regulated in the state for decades.

Lobbyists for the liquor industry, who deny the drinks are marketed to teens and argue they should be classified like beer because of their alcohol content, have been pushing hard for the bill, which passed in the Senate with little fanfare.

Well, frankly I couldn't care less how the alcopops are classified, seeing as how I don't drink them. And frankly, I don't see the need to differentiate the level of taxation one alcohol is subjected to versus another.

The good news is that apparently Doug Gansler is applying his crack skills as a beer expert on this case:

"Beer is yellow with foam," Gansler told reporters at a news conference, holding up a bottle of Smirnoff Source, which is described this way on its label: "contains pure spring water + alcohol."

"This is not beer," he added.

Well, glad we cleared that up, though I assure you that connoisseurs of Guinness, Killians, and about 3,000 other different kinds of ales, lagers, and darker brews would beg to differ.

All kidding aside, I am disparately trying to figure out how Gansler's knee-deep involvement in this issue is doing anything to about the tough issues that Maryland faces. Regulating alcopops as liquor instead of beer isn't going to do a thing to curb underage drinking, and anybody that thinks it will is an idiot; it's not like the reclassification is going to stop the legal adults buying the stuff from giving it to those underaged kids. Nor is this argument really going to do that much to abate the state budget problem; it's not like the increased revenue from taxing the products as liquor instead of beer is going to do much to abate the O'Malley induced economic jumble.

So.....realistically I have no idea what the hell Gansler thinks he is doing and how this is going to benefit the people of Maryland. But I am glad to see that Gansler thinks that he has accomplished all he can do to stop crime, promote public safety, and put criminals behind bars. Because I suppose it shows that we really need an Attorney General who cares about real public safety issues instead of getting his name in the paper...