Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has banned
the sale of alcohol at bars and restaurants across the state from 5 P.M. Wednesday,
November 25th , until 8 A.M. Thanksgiving Day, November 26th.
Wolf says the 15-hour prohibition is needed to protect Keystone State residents
from the coronavirus.
“It turns out that the biggest day
for drinking is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving,” cried Wolf. He added, “When
people get together in that situation, it leads to an increase in the exchange
of fluids. That leads to an increase in infection.”
So, it’s not enough for Gov. Wolf
to impose indoor-- and outdoor-- mask mandates on the citizens of his
state, nor to limit Thanksgiving Day gatherings to no more than a handful of
people from a single household. Wolf now wants to dictate when/where/if people
can “exchange fluids.”
The ban on alcohol sales on the
busiest night of the year will be devastating to the small, independent bars,
brewpubs and restaurants that are already hurting due to COVID-19 restrictions
and lockdowns. And it is particularly hypocritical and bizarre considering Gov.
Wolf has been pushing for the Quaker State’s General Assembly to pass
legislation legalizing the widespread sale and use of recreational
marijuana, with a portion of the revenue generated by legalization
to be given to “historically disadvantaged businesses” and “to further
restorative justice programs that give priority to repairing the harm done to
crime victims and communities as a result of marijuana criminalization.”
It is unclear how a 15-hour
Prohibition Era will diminish the spread of the coronavirus, unless Wolf thinks
it’s spread by drinking Coronas. (Although it’s apparently okay to start
quaffing them again at 8:01 A.M. Thanksgiving morning).
Many of the ongoing intrusive
lockdowns, mandates, and other edicts and decrees affecting nearly all aspects
of citizens’ lives, including their ability to make a living, are in violation
of the First, Fourth-- and possibly Ninth and Tenth-- Amendments to the United
States Constitution.
It is ironic that Independence
Hall, the building where both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.
Constitution were adopted, is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ben Franklin,
a long-time resident of the state, purportedly said: “Beer is proof that God
loves us and wants us to be happy,” though some insist that the quote is
inaccurate and that Franklin
actually said something similar about wine. In any case, the Founders
believed elected officials should be temporary public servants, in the
truest and purest sense of the word, whose power should be derived directly
from the people and be checked and limited in every respect. They would not
have tolerated governors dictating decrees in the manner of King George III.
They would not have tolerated a governor claiming to have the right and power
to decide when/where/if citizens could “exchange fluids.”
History recalls the “Boston Tea
Party,” colonists’ bold defiance and rejection of a relatively insignificant
tax on tea. Perhaps Pennsylvanians should take part in a “Philadelphia Freedom
Party” or “Pennsylvania Beer Bash” on Wednesday night. Maybe even show up
outside the Governor’s mansion in Harrisburg and toast the esteemed gentleman.
“Hooray for Wolf, hooray at last! Hooray for Wolf…he’s a horse’s ass!”
Just sayin’.
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