Big Government and Your Beer

You would think that the continuing Minnesota government shutdown would have nothing to do with your beer. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. NPR explains what happened:

MillerCoors, which holds "brand label registrations" for 39 beers, including Miller, Coors, Blue Moon Pale and Hamm's — almost 40 percent of the beer sold in Minnesota — sent in its renewal notice on June 15. But the state Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Agency said that MillerCoors overpaid its registration fees and refused to stamp the paperwork.

MillerCoors sent another check immediately. Julian Green, director of media relations for MillerCoors, pointed out that beer is its business. "We don't take securing our licenses lightly." But the state agency didn't process the check by the time the state government shut down on June 30. Its employees were shut out. Hundreds of taverns and restaurants also worried that they could not sell alcohol because their license renewals were just piling up like wet coasters in state offices.

We have three layers of government intervention in the marketplace here. First, for MillerCoors to sell alcohol in Minnesota it must secure a permit from a state agency. Second is sheer ineptitude -- only the government would refuse to approve a license because a company paid too much money. The final level introduces an insane level of irony:  The same government which refused a company's money shut down over a budget debate. It was this shutdown which prevented the state agency from cashing the corrective check.

MillerCoors is a massive corporation, so just imagine the burden this licensing process is placing upon local bars in Minnesota! Unfortunately, alcohol is one industry where the free market does not reign. Check out Matt Zwolinski's excellent article at Bleeding Heart Libertarians for numerous examples of stifling regulations on beer and wine. Sometimes, it feels like Prohibition never really went away.

Government -- Source of the Good Life?

The Minnesota state government shutdown has provoked many to voice their opinions.  To be certain, there is no shortage of crazy things being said in the Gopher State.  However, the most ridiculous statement I have heard yet came from the CEO of Campbell Mithun, Steve Wehrenberg.  Wehrenberg was quoted in the Star Tribune saying, "you can't really create a 'good life' if you don't have a government." I couldn't help but stop and smirk out of disbelief when I read this.

Of course, there are people suffering from the state shutdown and it would be ignorant of me to say that nobody's life has changed due to it.  However, I would argue that the root of the problem is not the state shutdown itself -- that is to say, people are not suffering merely because the government is currently not functioning.  Rather, it is my opinion that people are suffering due to the philosophy of Mr. Wehrenberg:  It is because people have grown to rely on the government so much -- grown to believe that it is the source of the "good life" -- that the state shutdown seems like a bigger deal than it actually is.

Update: Minnesota

Here's an update from Minnesota on how we're doing and where we're going. First and foremost, because it's quite the trek from Minnesota, I want to thank the three other individuals from St. Cloud State and the one student from Winona State for joining YAL at CPAC this year. Jake, a member at St. Cloud, and I both did different interviews while we were at CPAC. Jake's interview is pretty much perfect. This is his interview on News Talk Radio (Start at 28 minutes). My interview is here (last 5 paragraphs).

Beyond CPAC, the big news is that in Winona, Andrew McManimon is working hard to get a group started down there. Great work, Andrew!  Also, on April 2nd, we'll be holding our very first YAL state convention. If you're in the area, please make sure to not only come but to promote the event as well!  This is the promo for the event (kudos to Alyssa Hertig from SCSU):

Sleeping Man Convicted of DUI

As reported on the LewRockwell.com blog, a Minnesota man was convicted for drunk driving because he was found sleeping in his inoperable car in the parking lof of his own apartment building:

The Supreme Court of Minnesota on Thursday upheld the drunk driving conviction of a man caught asleep behind the wheel of a vehicle that would not start. At 11:30pm on June 11, 2007, police found Daryl Fleck sleeping in his own legally parked car in his apartment complex parking lot. The vehicle’s engine was cold to the touch, indicating it had not been driven recently. The keys were in the center console, not the ignition. Fleck admitted to having consumed around a dozen beers that night.

It sounds much more like he was, in fact, avoiding drunk driving by sleeping, a crime for which he'll get four years in prison for it.  No doubt this is for his own good (eye roll), for as the judge explained, he was "was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of being in physical control of a vehicle."  Riiight, because clearly he could have done so much with a car he could only have moved by pushing it.