United Liberty

In Georgia, a hot-button issue that has suddenly surfaced is one concerning whether local governments should be able to determine whether or not alcohol can be sold on Sunday. The media is framing this as you’d expect. On one side you have a bunch of right-wing, Bible-thumping, super-religious zealots intent on imposing their morality of everyone else. On the other hand you have hard-working local restaurant and package store owners looking to earn additional revenue in a tough economy, and at the same time increasing the tax base which would help fund government services.

Now, before I get inundated with nasty e-mails from either side, I should point out that I have absolutely no dog in this fight. Personally, I’ve never consumed a single drop of alcohol in my life, nor do I plan to; and, being a conservative with libertarian leanings, I tend to not care what other people do so long as it does not infringe on the unalienable rights afforded to all people, and as long as I do not have to pay for the consequences of their decisions.

Yet, while there have been many perspectives offered (conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat, religious/secular-business, the one perspective that seems to have been overlooked is the constitutional perspective.