Prohibition Ended with Repeal, but Efforts to Regulate and Restrict Alcohol Continue

Carolina Journal covers CEI and the John Locke Foundation’s Repeal Day Luncheon and screening of I, Whiskey: The Human Spirit.

The misguided and ultimately debilitating and tragic ban of alcohol that we called Prohibition was, at its core, about control.

Control of our time, our choices, and our habits. Control of our money and our freedom to live and to prosper as we saw fit.

Lawmakers and bureaucrats use and abuse the word, sometimes in an almost flippant manner. As N.C. Senate Bill 155 bumped along to passage, one lawmaker bemoaned government’s impending loss of “control,” which is so much a part of our alcohol culture in North Carolina, i.e., Alcoholic Beverage Control.

John Locke Foundation President Kory Swanson and I traveled Dec. 5 to Washington, D.C., and the Competitive Enterprise Institute to celebrate Repeal Day — the end of Prohibition. The program included a panel discussion, including CEI president Kent Lassman, and Richard Morrison, executive producer of the wonderful short film, “I, Whiskey,” which is part of a CEI film series. The series began with “I, Pencil,” a classic autobiography of a simple writing tool, Lassman said.

Read the full article at Carolina Journal.