Sanity on the Subject of Drinking? I Can't Believe It!

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As I've noted here before, I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to neo-temperance. I believe that the anti-alcohol people like those who belong to MADD aren't solving a problem. They ARE the problem. We Americans demonize alcohol and infantilize drinking. We have only ourselves to blame for "problems" like "underage drinking" and "binge drinking."

So I'm astounded that editors at a mainstream magazine like Time had the balls to run this article. Astounded. Hey, maybe there's hope! And in response to the question posed by the article's author: Yes. You SHOULD drink with your kids. (For other posts on this topic, look under "rational drinking" in the categories box.)

More on Taxes, Beer, and Neo-Prohibitionism

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Amy Mittelman has followed up on the issues and politics of the proposed California beer tax hike. You can read her blog entry here. (I think it's one of those blog format where the entries don't have separate urls, so it's the entry for April 21 titled, appropriately enough, "Fat Taxes.")

As is often the case, tip 'o the mug to David Fahey at the Alcohol and Drugs History society website.

We're Gonna Tax That Beer Right Outta Your Mouth....

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To be sung to the tune of "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair."

In the 1880s and 1890s, the prohibitionists attacked drinking in part by going after drinkers' wallets: raising tavern license fees, raising brewer' taxes, etc. Today's prohibs are still at it.

A thoughtful look at a Wisconsin attempt to control/reduce drinking by raising taxes is here at Amy Mittelman's blog. Amy wrote about the late 19th century relationship between the alcohol industry and federal tax policy in a terrific dissertation titled "The Politics of Alcohol Production." She's also the author of a book titled Brewing Battles.

And that reminded me of Jay Brooks's blog on the subject of of beer and taxes.. As always, he's got much to say on the subject, he being one of the staunchest defenders of our right to drink.

Thanks and a tip 'o the mug to David Fahey for alerting me to Amy's blog.

The Solution Begins At Home

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I'm on record as supporting the idea of parents teaching their children to drink at home. (See especially this blog entry.) My belief is that when we demonize alcohol, we teach kids to fear rather than respect it. And then we end up with an "underage drinking problem." We end up with, in other words, a drinking problem of our own making.

Anyway, there's a thoughtful piece about this topic by Eric Asimov in today's New York Times. Instead of resorting to the usual kneejerk "booze is bad, period," he actually did some digging to find out if there's any evidence that kids' attitudes toward alcohol can be shaped by parents at home. Worth reading.