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Monday, December 22, 2008
Michigan lawmakers’ wine follies
It was Michigan, of course, that led the way to the current brouhaha over wine shipping, in the so-called Granholm case decided murkily by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now Michigan is making headlines again, this time after the Michigan Legislature voted overwhelmingly to block wine stores from delivering wine to Michigan residents.
One Michigan legislator actually dusted off the lame, discredited argument that freer shipping laws could lead to underage drinking. Indiana did the same thing a couple of years ago. Whenever you see that argument, ask to see the evidence — just one single case — in which a teenager ordered wine from the internet or from an out-of-state or even in-state retailer for delivery to his or her home at some future, unspecified time with the intent of drinking it with teenage buddies. A real case, not one concocted as a sting operation or for television cameras.
Even the Federal Trade Commission’s staff has debunked the wine-shipping-causes-underage-drinking myth, yet still it lives on.
I don’t know the full merits of this particular shipping argument in Michigan, but I do know that when some public official wraps himself in that argument, he’s hiding his real motivation.
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