Don’t Drink & Vote (Opinion)

As of this writing, my favorite Election Day story comes from right here in Idaho.  At least one grocer in Idaho Falls posted a sign on the beer cooler telling shoppers there wouldn’t be any beer sales today.

While some cities in the state have had bans to prevent drunken voting (it limits the number of liberals sent to public office), there is no such ban in Idaho Falls.

The story explains actual alcohol bans are confined mainly to one religious observance in the city and the writer also lists state laws banning sales on various days.

This is a far cry from when I was a kid.  There wasn’t a convenience mart in my hometown until after I graduated college.  No stores were open around the clock.  Most were closed even on Sundays and if you needed gas you couldn’t buy it on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Easter.  There were no “out-of-town” newspapers available even on a Sunday.  There were no Sunday alcohol sales until after noon.

The only place open on religious holidays was a dive bar known as the St. James Hotel.  It was the respite for many a lonely drunk but we were told respectable people weren’t seen inside the place.  When a friend went there Christmas night while home visiting family (she was almost 30 at the time), her parents were horrified.  Times have changed!  Now, men who sing songs about killing police officers campaign with presidential candidates.  In some big East Coast cities, voters are bused to polls with the promise of a free lunch, a 6-pack and 20 dollars.  We get the country we deserve.