The Daily Mirror News’ infamous headline declaring an end to Prohibition.
Today is the seventy-ninth anniversary of Repeal Day, the unofficial title given to the day when the twenty-first Amendment of the US Constitution was ratified. The twenty-first Amendment (for the record) is the one that allowed people to both sell and consume alcoholic beverages legally. CNN Eatocrocy has a great article about the day including the lead up to how Prohibition (the era where it was illegal to sell or purchase alcohol in the US) came to be and ultimately end.
Most US state mandated school curriculum requires its students to be taught the Constitution in its entirety, as well as, specifically focus on each Amendment. It comes with little surprise we spent little if any time on number twenty-one back when I was in public school. The argument could be made that the Amendment cemented the right to consume alcohol as a personal choice for an adult, an ideal that had up until the prior decade been an accepted part of social and personal society.
There is all sorts of ideological parallels that can be sought today from the upfront medical marijuana argument to excessively conservative Blue Laws that continue to prohibit or limit consumption. The whole personal choice argument can be made about many things we are or are not allowed to do legally with ease.
A police raid confiscating illegal alcohol, in Elk Lake, Canada, in 1925.
Prohibition came out of a time of return to Conservative ideology and was backed by the Religious Right who saw alcohol consumption as a sin. They choose to ignore Jesus’s liberal consumption of wine in the Bible and picked what they saw as more important passages to focus on. CNN Belief Blog ran a great article on how easy it is to call something “biblical” by picking and choosing passages to prove a point a few week back. It’s worth a read as well. I’m sure more parallels could be drawn, but that is neither for here or there.
I have long enjoyed beer and recently decided to abstain from alcohol. I was far from an alcoholic, but my concerns of becoming more physically fit lead me to understand how the calories associated with my routine was prohibiting my loss of weigh. Ironically enough that all started about a month ago. I thus have spent a month in self imposed Prohibition.
I can tell you I have lost fifteen pounds to date. I feel overall much better and healthier. That has less to do with not drinking (because I was being responsible so my issue is obesity and not alcohol), but more to do with overall increased physical activity, as well as, better food consumption choices. I’m sure with time moderate alcohol will be fine, but for now dry is the way to be until I meet my weight goal.
So for those of you who can legally buy a beer feel free to do so in my honor and toast to Repeal Day– I’ll make do with some seltzer and a brisk walk. Call it a personal choice, but not biblical behavior. 😉
