Beer and Freedom: How Beer Built America

Warning: Over-consuming alcoholic beverages is dangerous for your health.

Warning: Driving under the influence of alcohol is deadly and destroys lives.

Warning: Alcoholic beverages seen by minors can cause them to want a sip.

Warning: Consuming local, craft beer in pubs might lead to conversations.

Warning: Conversing with strangers might lead to friendship.

Warning: Friendship can lead to changes in ideological ways of thinking.

Conclusion: Never consume alcoholic beverages.

The organization of citizens in a free manner can lead to a disruption of the status quo. Allowing consumers to imbibe in local, craft beer in independent community pubs can disrupt the $200 billion US liquor industry and impact market share to the point where monopolies in the liquor market could be fractured. This could cause the controls over laws, distribution, marketing and the messaging that giant liquor companies propagate to fracture. Local consumption of craft beer and spirits must be stopped!

Since the founding of civilizations, the consumption of beer has played an integral role in the progression of freedom. Not only is beer an effective social lubricant, but pubs or “public houses” as they were referred to for nearly 1,000 years, have served as the “third spaces” where people discuss how oppressive powers stymie our freedoms, and/or enjoy a wide range of karaoke singers and sporting events.

Either way, we seem to have neglected or forgotten that the entire concept of a democratic republic only functions well when people can congregate, speak their minds, vent their grievances against oppressive powers, and work to revolt against laws that inhibit our freedoms. Online “communities” cannot replace public houses.

Do you believe that your freedoms are being oppressed by corporate or government powers? What better way to participate in a revolt against the status quo than by purchasing a local craft beer and/or by visiting your local bars and pubs and consuming craft beer or distilled grains?

Remember, we are only 250 years into this “American Experiment”, which could still easily fail if we allow the oppressive powers to win control and domination over us. Totalitarian measures will win if we don’t exercise our most fundamental freedoms in a manner that thwarts the concentration and centralization of power.

Clear symptoms of the over-centralization of corrupt powers include when the disparity between the rich and the poor increases, and when suppression of our fundamental rights (such as free speech) is deemed ‘useful and necessary’ by our political leaders and tech overlords. Also when powerful entities are working to limit our most important freedoms: to congregate; to speak freely; to laugh at funny jokes; to practice religion and to enjoy a beer in a responsible manner.

To our LDS legislator friends and brothers:

You call yourselves small-government conservatives”. You call yourselves “champions of freedom and democracy.” If those things are true, stop inhibiting the greatest mechanisms of freedom and democracy and remove your chains from our beer and public houses! Stop monopolizing the buying public through your corrupt measures that aid corporate chain stores over local, independent businesses.

A useful amount of restraint on the liquor business:

Certainly there are measures that should be taken that are useful in protecting individuals from those who over-consume alcohol. Drunk driving is a serious issue, as is binge drinking. Measures to prevent deaths caused by these activities are important and necessary.

But the balance between protecting individuals and becoming an overly burdensome “nanny-state bureaucracy” needs to be carefully calibrated. How does a legislative body achieve this balance? By understanding that liquor consumption, like consumption of over-the-counter prescriptions and illegal drugs, will be consumed regardless of any laws put into place.

Beer and Freedom event. Tell your story. We will not cancel you, but we may buy you a beer.

The state’s role in legislating harmful substances should not be to punish the local producers or local purveyors, but to instead assist local entities over corporate monopolies. Why? Because local sovereignty should always supersede national or federal economic control. Why not assist local purveyors in building a greater appreciation for the distinct ingredients, flavors and traditions behind well-crafted products over commodity-driven products?

How many teenagers have died from overconsumption of alcohol who were well-educated about alcoholic beverages? Belgian teens know more about the fine qualities of beer than any other country, yet they aren’t doing keg stands and ending up in emergency rooms.

Instilling a bit of wisdom into citizens makes them better consumers. Consumers become responsible, not from overly burdensome laws, but from education. Clearly, everyone under thirty should consume less alcohol. Alcohol consumption is especially dangerous if consumed alone.

Alcohol consumption in isolation leads to depression and feelings of despair, and it removes the spirit of getting your ass off the couch and raging against the machine.

But consuming a drink or two in a bar with friends is a great idea. Choose the latter. And Latter-day Saints should start choosing the latter. My LDS friends who were sneaking beers were never happy, especially when their parents found out.

Feature Image from PrettyBones Graphics.