H.L. Mencken, taking advantage of the repeal of Prohibition

For those of you who aren’t booze/liberty hounds, today marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of the 18th Amendment, which made the sale of alcohol illegal. In a delightfully ironic twist, it was the state of Utah (yes, that Utah) that turned the tide in favor of liberty and common-sense.

It might seem weird to imagine a world where alcohol was banned, but not if you set your mind to it. For those of us still under 21, drinking culture is no different than it was during the “Progressive” Era. Or look at the War on Drugs, particularly marijuana, where an entire black market has developed within and beyond the purview of the government, where billions of dollars are wasted fighting the “menace.”

H.L. Mencken, that great saint of journalists, critics, and skeptics everywhere, wrote about Prohibition in 1925:

Five years of Prohibition have had, at least, this one benign effect: they have completely disposed of all the favourite arguments of the Prohibitionists. None of the great boons and usufructs that were to follow the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment has come to pass. There is not less drunkenness in the Republic, but more. There is
not less crime, but more. There is not less insanity, but more. The
cost of government is not smaller, but vastly greater. Respect for law
has not increased, but diminished.

If only he were correct. Instead, the same flawed arguments that were once used to ban whiskey are used today against a litany of “sins” — marijuana, tobacco, and fatty foods, to name a few.

Radley Balko, from whence the Mencken quote came, points out in his piece the difference between the war on pleasures bygone and present:

The main difference between the two prohibitions is that one was
enacted lawfully, and once it became clear that it had failed, we
repealed it (and government revenues soared with new alcohol taxes). As the drug war has failed, the government merely claims more powers to fight it more aggressively.

But we should not get too depressed — for today is a celebration of those liberties that have been won, not those that have yet to be achieved. I’ll close with the final paragraph in a piece by Jacob Grier:

Bringing the modern nanny state to heel will depend on countless
individuals standing up against those who would trade our liberties for their preferences. On this Repeal Day, raise a glass to freedom regained and to freedoms still to be won. Cheers to the 21st Amendment!

I’ll drink to that.