tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post4139434012398139239..comments2023-09-20T14:18:32.900+02:00Comments on Obscene Desserts: A man walks into a bar...JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-31481249294811100242010-10-21T23:02:31.178+02:002010-10-21T23:02:31.178+02:00Some polls seem to suggest that there's actual...Some polls seem to suggest that there's actually a chance of this working out. <br />(I was puzzled as to why there's basically no campaigning for Prop 19 where I live. Then it dawned on me: I live in Berkeley. Nobody here needs any convincing...)cohuhttp://www.cohu.denoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-33553581143834695402010-10-20T21:55:55.557+02:002010-10-20T21:55:55.557+02:00I didn't know the Devil's Weed was up for ...I didn't know the Devil's Weed was up for legalisation. <br /><br />Best of luck: it'd be nice if <i>somebody</i> in that country showed some political sense this year...JCWoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-61370120690146322722010-10-20T05:39:03.166+02:002010-10-20T05:39:03.166+02:00Speaking of prohibition - I'm keeping my finge...Speaking of prohibition - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Prop. 19...<a href="http://yeson19.com/" rel="nofollow">two weeks to go</a>!cohuhttp://www.cohu.denoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-30213817490508474552010-10-19T10:30:49.754+02:002010-10-19T10:30:49.754+02:00Oh, I'm not surprised at all that there were a...Oh, I'm not surprised at all that there were a number of people who <i>wanted</i> to ban alcohol; still, the fact that they succeeded in <i>passing a constitutional <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" rel="nofollow">amendment</a></i> enacting this view is -- for someone who grew up in the time, place and family in which I did, where the alcohol flowed at times rather freely -- pretty amazing. <br /><br />I don't actually know much about the details of the matter, but I have always thought of Prohibition when I hear the claim that the Wisdom of the Founders created a political system that would prevent radical change. <br /><br />Given that there are so many people who are -- as you point out -- active in trying to promote similar agendas, that is food for thought. <br /><br />I know from the British side of things that temperance movements (in which middle-class women played many leading roles) were partly driven by a perceived need to tame the working-class male, and much attention was given to the problems of family violence (and poverty and other forms of moral depravity) related to drinking.<br /><br />This was part of a broader, if gradual, legal crackdown on different forms of what had previously been seen as more-or-less normal forms of male behaviour in the late 19th century.<br /><br />Martin Wiener's <i>Men of Blood</i> (my review <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2005/is_1_39/ai_n15696953/" rel="nofollow">here</a>) is quite good on these issues, at least with regard to violence.JCWoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-47768394922086883952010-10-19T10:05:47.519+02:002010-10-19T10:05:47.519+02:00I don't find it hard to believe at all.
Reli...I don't find it hard to believe at all. <br /><br />Religious lunacy played a part in enacting Prohibition, and one assumes that the composition of the Senate--then, as now--favoured the smaller, more conservative and religious states.<br /><br />The Women's Christian Temperance Union is still active in some parts ofthe USA, and have added predictable sins to their campaign for prohibition; marijuana, abortion, gay rights. Sound familiar?<br /><br />There is a tendency in American culture to turn public health problems (like alcohol abuse) into moral cause. <br /><br />Indeed, to listen to the current health care debate, where there is much talk of "moral hazard" in the mix, one would tend to think that religious types see ALL poor health as a moral failing.<br /><br />Since the leading crusaders for prohibition were women, and the leading drunks were men, was sexual politics a factor in Prohibition?The Honourable Husbandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05234119524600114890noreply@blogger.com