Delaware’s Blue Laws Still Suck
So I was surfing around and I went to one of my favorite little consumerism-gone-wild sites woot.com. I won’t bore you with the details of Woot, but it is quirky and fun online shopping. They also have a Wine section of the website called wine.woot.com. Basically you can get some different wines at a pretty reasonable price.
I have been trying to be more of a wino and less of a beer guzzler, so I look deeper and remember that Delaware is still one of the states that prohibits interstate wine sales. There is a website site dedicated to the problem (sponsored by a consortium of wine producers). There are only 17 states that prohibit the shipment of wine directly to consumers and we are one of them.
We bloggers have a modicum of power now and perhaps we should use it for good. There is no reason why we should be prevented from getting wine shipped directly to us. I know for a fact that many bloggers enjoy an adult beverage now and again (BTW, Kilroy, please don’t drink and post any more…) so I think that this is an issue that we can actually get behind. Who wants to get bogged down in HB4 minutiae when you could kick back with a nice Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley?
Tags: Delaware
Alcoholic beverage distribution in Delaware is the kind of monopoly that makes North Korea look good by comparison.
The laws are arcane but changing. On May 16, 2005), the Supreme Court struck down laws in Michigan and New York (Granholm v. Heald) that barred out-of-state wineries from selling directly to consumers. This, hopefully, will set the precedent for other states to follow suit. Its a hard battle, but there are several great organizations that are fighting the good fight for consumers, wineries and wine retailers. They include, http://www.freethegrapes.org and http://www.specialtywineretailers.org. Join the fight for consumer choice!
by concentrating enormous wealth in the hands of a few, i.e., the Widder’ Rollins for gambling and the liquor distributors, the incubment politicians are able to tap into a nice source of income in the form of political donations, free tickets to races, trips to ‘study’ gambling, etc.
Its a situation that Larry Craig wanted to be in: where he could make the recipients of the wealth suck his dick everytime he got a little horney. And the clever part about this, the incumbents can make these franchise holders of gambling and liquor suck their dicks while keeping their mouths shut.
And then they couch the arguements in favour of our blue laws as “moral” issues. Are we adults here? Yes. Can we look out for ourselves? Yes. Why do we give the pols this power?
Oh, they also claim kids could get beer delivered over the net. Yea, right. I can just see a bunch of 19 year olds waiting for their liter bottles of pinot grigio with baited breath.
Delaware wine laws are crazy. There is a lawsuit out there offering a glimmer of hope. Since a family member lives really close to Napa, I can’t wait to get a steady stream of the good stuff shipped right to my door.