bitch and wine

This issue has always pissed me off. I could fall into a long commentary/rant now but I won't. I think the most succinct summary of the issue would be: corruption, corruption, corruption, as it has always been. (I love my home state, and continually feel nothing but shame for its politicians and the legislature. See also.)

Basically, Tennessee law not only prohibits wine and liquor sales in grocery stores, but prohibits wine or liquor from being sold in the same store or even space as beer—or even mixers (so one has to drive to two stores to buy gin and tonic)—and requires all alcohol products to go through an entirely artificial wholesaler industry, which tacks own their own tariffs to prices before products can hit retail shelves.

By this situation:

• One can't buy a bottle of wine while shopping for dinner.
• If you drive to the liquor store for wine or liquor, buying limes, juices, soda, and other mixers require an additional trip somewhere else.
• If you drive to the liquor store to stock up on wine or liquor (for the bar, a party, personal use, catering etc.) a beer run also requires another trip.
• If you visit wine country, as an individual or a wine shop, the winery cannot ship your selections back to Tennessee or to your shop, because it has to go through an artificial middleman first. Special orders from small wineries or breweries are out to, unless you go through the middlemen.
  

It's all sorts of fucked up. And has been for, according to my dad, basically ever.

Why?

• Rural legislators who are or represent hypocritical pious Christianists who want to make it as difficult as possible for the public to buy the devil's temptation of wine and liquor. (Beer, apparently, has been conceded.)
  
• Insane amounts of money thrown at politicians by the beer interests to keep the competition of wine away from grocery and convenience stores.
• Insane amounts of money thrown at politicians by the wholesaler lobby who want to keep making a fortune of an unnecessary middleman operation.

Brother Mac gets even more riled about this than I do. I see it as an obstruction to free trade and a violation of church and state (because the most cited reasons for this situation are religious, not to mention the "can't buy booze on Sunday" ridiculousness).

And now this in the Tennesseean: Bill to allow wine in grocery stores fails

Ugh.