New Hampshire, the once lone conservative oriented state in the Northeast’s storied New England region has just been introduced to a proposed legislative initative that would set new standards. It is not a speed limit or New York style ban on fatty food. It is a drinking limit that would be aimed at consumption in bars.
The measure would limit bar patrons to one alcoholic beverage an hour with a maximum of four drinks a sitting and it is a sad commentary of the times which signals an even sadder direction that we are headed in.
New Hampshire has always been a special place for me. It’s rustically quaint, New England elegance and country charm combined with its revolutionary era held beliefs in independence and freedom have always made New Hampshire stand out to me.
Unique in many ways, New Hampshire used to be one of the most distinctly political states in the Northeast. More often than not, the state legislature was controlled by Republicans, who were led by Republican Governors and aided by representatives in Washington who were also Republican. Few, if any states in the Northeast, saw as many prolonged periods of time where both of their United States senators were Republican.
New Hampshire was indeed very different from the rest of the Northeast.
Residents of the Granite State held a rock hard belief in conservative oriented leadership, that led to a government that was less intrusive and less restrictive than most.
I would come to appreciate all of this about New Hampshire ever since my first experience there. It was hallmark occasion for me. I had been hired to work on my first presidential campaign and after driving for hours through the night from Canarsie in Brooklyn, New York, I was just crossing into New Hampshire when the first rays of the new dawn's sun sparkled and glimmered over a crystal like, ice coated, roadside sign that said “Welcome to New Hampshire. Live Free or Die.”
Despite the cold temperatures, I felt warm and at home.
In the days to follow, as the presidential primary unfolded, I was won over by the people of New Hampshire.
Between every Notch from Dixville to Zealand and the North White Mountains and Great North Woods to its southern sections of Portsmouth and Seabrook in the Seacoast region and Nashua, Concord and Manchester in between, I found the people of New Hampshire to be polite, gracious, fair-minded, open and independent. I also found that they took their politics seriously and they took their citizenship and all the rights that came with it even more serious.
But years later, New Hampshire is changing.
Many Northeast urban dwellers have sought a less congested and, less expensive way of life. Many of them have moved to New Hampshire where such an existence was once possible. With no state sales tax or income tax, New Hampshire lived up to their, “live free, or die” motto and it slowly captured the minds and imaginations of many disaffected regional residents. But with their move from out of state urban centers in to New Hampshire suburban centers, many of the new, New Hampshire residents brought their failed urban center political thinking with them and began to influence New Hampshire politics.
That influence has helped to jeopardize the very freedom that New Hampshire emphasizes. So much so that the state is beginning to change drastically.
Liberal bureaucrats appointed through the, new to New Hampshire, thinking of relatively new legislative leaders, are chipping away at the Granite State’s freedom. It is a fact made quite clear by this public consumption limit being discussed by New Hampshire’s chief liquor law enforcement officer, Eddie Edwards.
Edwards’ discussions about legislative consumption limits are absolutely senseless and unrealistic and a perfect example of government overreaching and ineffectiveness. Yet the recent decade’s wave of new era liberal thinkers in New Hampshire government will provide some legs to the initiative.
Perhaps the only roadblock to its final passage is the enforcement angle.
How does such a measure get enforced? Does the state hire a new legion of bar watchers who take time stamped photos of each patron, every time they purchase a drink?
Whether the initiative passes or not , it is a sign of things to come and the liberal thinking which expands the size and scope, of government, makes it more unwieldy and expensive and ultimately more of a burden on freedom and obstacle to it.
On its current course, New Hampshire is becoming more and more like most states. It is slipping away from being the “live free or die” state and into the “live the way we tell you or else” mentality of liberal based policies.
|
|
| |
|
|
yet another hack piece. Lets face it Utah has strong anti-drinking laws and many counties in the South are dry, even in FL on Sundays you cannt get alcholo until at least noon. So please look at some of the GOP states before you just claim this some phenomino of the left. O and the GOP is most opposed to leagalzing hemp so hows that for social control? O and dont forget the Religous right.
Maybe one day we can actually hope you will show up to defend your work but your a hit and run guy.
Rsobien, I wouldn't call Utah anything but completely screwed up. Up is down there, but someone did manage to outlaw people being naked in church there....... In my home state of Arkansas, about half the counties are dry counties. Of course it doesn't stop the flow of alcohol - just where it comes from and who gets the tax revenues... It makes me sad to see ANY state impose laws like this no matter which side of the aisle it comes from. It's just like cigarettes... Last year, and again this year (may not have passed yet), Maryland increased cigarette taxes. I wrote to my state representatives. Here's the irony. In 2008, they wrote me a long missive about how the revenues would be used for children's healthcare (this was after SCHIPS failed to pass congress). In that same letter, they also said that they were doing it to encourage people to quit. Well, that confused me so I wrote back. I asked how they could pay for a program with cigarette tax revenues, when they'd collect less because of people quitting. They wrote back something about anything which makes Maryland residents healthier is good... A month later, there were emails circulating that the state was in a huge deficit because of lower that normal tax revenues. By the end of the first quarter of 2008, Maryland had collected something like 30 million less in taxes than the previous year. Of course, people weren't quitting smoking on a massive level. They were going to Delaware and Virginia... The only people really hurt by increased taxes and laws like Kempite describes above are the people who live and pay taxes where they're passed. It also hurts the businesses which provide jobs, services, and goods to the residents there...
Later RS.
Yeah... Santa Fe has a lot of strange laws... part of why you hear native New Mexicans calling it the new San Francisco. If you were outside of the city limits, there probably isn't much they could have done, though. To give an idea though, Santa Fe is also one of those cities where you can't build something more than two or three stories high without a special permit to keep it rustic looking. Anyway, good talking with you, but need to get to bed.
Good thing we didn't get caught then. My friend was from Taos and said it was OK to do so. Ooops. I didn't hit anything anyway. .22 ruger pistol wasn't very accurate at that distance.
BTW - careful shooting at prarie dogs around Santa Fe... for some reason, despite their severe overpopulation, I think that they are actually protected around there. It's almost kind of funny, though... I heard something about them digging up and playing with bones in one of the local cemeteries there.
It was a good thing we had a rental car. The sand did damage to the drivers side. That $1 insurance was a good thing that time. lol
Oh, man... sand storms. Last time I went to the public shooting range here in Albuquerque, well... the wind was there, but not too bad. So I went and paid my $6. Got out my 4 guns that I brought with me, set up my bin Laden target at 25 yards (for my 1911... I don't typically use rifles at less than 100 yards). Loaded up a magazine for my 1911, looked up at my target... and realized the wind had picked up, and the dust was so thick that I couldn't even see the target 25 yards away. I managed to get 1 shot out of my 1911 before it jammed completely, and my Mosin Nagant wouldn't fire... still trying to clean the sand out of its bolt.
We went out to the desert and popped off some rounds at some praire dogs. Good time. Ran into a sand storm but I had a good time in NM. Always wanted to go back when I had more time.
Oh, there's plenty of grass in Santa Fe... just that most of it seems to be in rolling papers... lol. Coming from California, NM took some getting used to... but it's pretty cool when you know where to go. Even in the desert, there are a lot of hidden gems, so to speak. But yeah, I can certainly imagine missing the green in a place like Colorado.
NM was cool. I was glad to get back to Colorado and see some green grass though.
For a time, Richardson was actually trying to push for mandatory ignition interlocks for everyone, not just DUI offenders. Those things are very expensive, so thankfully it fell through. I get the feeling it was more a gesture to get people's attention on the issue.
Yeah... NM has a bad track record for DUI's.
I also remember a heck of a lot of Police roadblocks there also. Thank God for taxi's!
Oh yeah... Santa Fe... the new San Francisco... lol.
I went to a wedding once in Santa Fe. They definetley have no problem with neighborhood parties. The guy had a mariachi band in his back yard.
Funny thing is that NM is largely a Democrat run state... yet our governor is said to live by the "it's always 5 o'clock somewhere" philosophy... and we also enjoy being one of the more hated states by the Brady Campaign.
I don't plan on drinking in New hampshire anyway. ;)
There are dry counties in the South, Utah can not sell real beer. In most places you can't sell beer before noon on sundays- these things happen in republican states. oh and lets not forget that most states have laws already about what your BAL can be when you are behind a wheel. Give me a break Kemmp.
Such fringe policies are NOT limited to either one party. They are a result of either party gaining too much power.
like there is now
like there is now
i agree That its a very crazy law and it makes absolutly no sence there will be underground clubs again
and all of your blogs are in full caps even more hilarious
kempite your a joke, prohibition laws will fail but you support the same failed laws against hemp/cannabis, you have more blog postings than comments youve made anywhere else on u4prez, this is a trainwreak of an attempt to get the 1k
I'd love to read your complaints about the alcohol laws in Utah made by and enforced by Republicans. Oh wait... no... you're a partisan hack who's political values are based entirely on party.
And honestly... "“live the way we tell you or else” mentality of liberal based policies." You're GAY! I'm not going to say Democrats are flawless, but you should know damn well that Republicans are just as good, if not much better in some areas, of forcing people to live the way they want them to.
|
|
<< Home