Why vote? A question I'm asking myself more and more. For those of you that vote, you might care more about this issue than those of you that don't vote. Even though this vote had something to do with an area of life that many of us don't take part in, it still touches us all. I'm talking about the initiative to privatize liquor sales and dismantle all state-run liquor stores.
After 2 tries, the voters finally said it's time to take the State of Washington out of the booze business. Something I think should have happened a long time ago. What's happening as I write this is "The Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention" has filed suit and is forking over dough to pay for an attorney to argue before the Washington State Supreme Court. The reason they're doing this, and I quote a KOMO.com article again, "the initiative violates state rules requiring measures to address only one subject, because it includes a provision to set aside $10 million for public safety." Never mind that that group is a "landlord to a state-owned liquor store in Cowlitz County." Need a say more? Another group, "the unions whose members stand to lose their jobs if the initiative is implemented also filed suit in a similar lawsuit in King County Superior Court. That case was put on hold in January, pending the Cowlitz case."
I guess what I don't get is why did we need the state to control when we can or can't buy booze in the first place? Is it because it's booze? Were we just being protected from ourselves? (I remember a time when you couldn't buy meat on Sunday in this state. Guess we weren't supposed to have a spur of the moment BBQ on Sunday. We didn't need that steak anyway!) Some of those ads before the last vote kind of hinted at that. Kids were used as part of the reason why we should keep things as it is. We all know kids can get booze way easier if it's in Safeway or QFC. No. Kids will see booze as they walk through the store, unlike how it is now. You can't even be in the store if your under 21. They better ban everyone under the age from seeing booze ads on TV, in magazines and on billboards. I think the State of Washington relaized it had a cash cow and didn't want to give it up. When I asked those behind the counter, that I've seen time and time again, what they plan on doing now, almost all of them told me they were only working there for the benefits. They all had other jobs! Some owned businesses.
We don't have state run gas stations or state run meat stores, so why booze? Imagine the uproar if tomorrow the governor announced a news conference and at this news conference she made the following annoucement. "Starting July 5th, Safeway, QFC, Wal-Mart and other food stores will no longer be allowed to sell any kind of meat. Be it in packages for sandwiches or from the butcher for BBQing, the only way the public in this state can get it's meat is from a state run store." The main reason would be because we need to be protected from ruthless meat sellers. Those sellers that would sell us meat past it's pull date or meat with pink slime in it. Oh the shame of it all. There won't be any state run meat stores anytime soon, so don't get your shorts in a huff.
Bottom line in this story is, the state will still collect it's taxes. That's the bad news. The good news is, those of us that like to have some whiskey or vodka in the house, can now buy it whenever we want, assuming stores that stay open all night, like some Safeway's, will get it at a cheaper price. Costco and Sam's Club will sell it, too. Hopefully I don't have to buy a case of whiskey. Put the next round on my tab!
Until we type again......
