Prohibition Sunday

So, Sundays continue here in Texas without hard liquor sales. About 10 days ago, a survey went out regarding legislation that currently prohibits Texas stores from selling hard liquor on Sundays. Apparently, the overwhelming majority of 400 voters were opposed to overturning that legislation.

Mind you, bars can sell hard liquor drinks seven days a week; still, many people felt that didn't justify the need to have stores sell hard liquor seven days a week, though. Plus, when the voters were informed that New Mexico saw a steep rise of alcohol-related fatalities after their legislation was repealed, even more Texas voters opposed overturning legislation.

Now for the Black Man Next Door's spin on this issue. First and foremost, I'm liberal. I believe in individual rights and freedoms, and the word "Sunday" would not make me feel any different than the word "Friday" in this legislation. So what if New Mexico's alcohol-related fatalities jumped on Sunday? That's not really surprising, nor is it any piece of fact that should be a deal breaker when casting a vote on this issue.

In answering why, I ask myself - how do they know that this increase wasn't attributed to more New Mexicans drinking on Saturday night, and then crashing their car in the wee hours on Sunday morning? How do we know these people didn't drive drunk from liquor they purchased the Wednesday prior? How do we know that higher Sunday fatalities weren't attributable to more people drinking too much in a bar, rather than people consuming a bottle of Tanqueray that was bought in a store?

Just because alcohol-related fatalities increased when New Mexico opened the flood gates to Sunday hard liquor store sales, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the sole reason why accidents increased on Sundays. If they had surveyed me, and then fed me statistics from some other state, I'd call it like it is. If it smells like bullshit, and it looks like bullshit... then what is it? Just another way to exert control over people's freewill.