By Rex Bell
I’m not a fan of warm beer. But then, I’m not a fan of cold beer either. As a matter of fact, I haven’t had a drink for nigh on 30 years. It’s not that I’m opposed to drinking beer. It just wasn’t working out for me anymore so I gave it up. I have a lot of friends that like cold beer, and a couple of acquaintances who like warm beer. I also have a few friends who like cold beer a lot. They’re easy to spot on Saturday night.
So on a personal level, I’m not all that affected by Ricker’s recent foray into the cold beer world so jealously guarded by the carry-out liquor lobby here in Indiana. Likewise, on a personal level, I’m not overly worried if I can’t buy carry-out beer on Sunday. I am, however, more than a little concerned about how these rules and laws came to be.
When I was running for governor last year, I pointed out anything legal on Saturday should also be legal on Sunday. A lot of people agreed with that sentiment, although not enough to elect me.
But whether you like beer or not, and whether or not you think government should dictate what temperature it should be sold at and on what day and by whom, we should all agree that laws and lawmakers shouldn’t be for sale. The liquor store lobby has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last few years to make sure the law protects their businesses from competition.
That shouldn’t be the purpose of our laws, and it shouldn’t be the purpose of our lawmakers.
Rex Bell
Libertarian Party of Indiana