Blue Laws making you blue?

Blue laws. Sin taxes. The U.S. legal code is fraught with legislation that limits the free consumption of substances that many consider to be either marks of bad character or should only be consumed in certain instances by certain individuals. Many of these laws are holdovers from the prohibition era and the result of the temperance movement at the turn of the century.
Recently, the Raleigh City Council voted to legalize the sale of alcohol before 10 a.m. on Sundays. Many southern towns and cities, including Raleigh, have restricted the sale of alcohol on Sunday mornings to promote church attendance and a general sense of propriety and respectability. “The bill is sensitive to business interests but insensitive to churches and unintentionally undercuts the kind of environment that supports the efforts of religion to have a maximum impact for good on the culture,” said M.H. Cavanaugh of the Christian Action League. Should government be used as a tool to promote good moral character among its citizens? Yes. Should government do this by restricting the rights of its citizens when they have not infringed on the rights of others? The answer should be a resounding no.
“I think it’ll bring more people out for brunch at the earlier times because, as of now, kind of before 12, it’s a little slower,” Logan Beam, manager of bu·ku, on Davie Street in downtown Raleigh, “so, we’re expecting it to really increase our volume and our sales.” Proponents of limited government will see this as a step in the right direction from the state interfering with markets and restricting our ability to consume what we want, when we want. However, the passage of a discretionary bill by the state Governor, Roy Cooper, and the implementation of the right granted to them by the state legislature is more than just limiting state intervention in the market, it is an affirmation of our right to democratically address concerns at the local level and form policy based on the needs of citizens within small districts. Government should act as a reactionary force against the infringement of individual rights, not as a tool to infringe on an individual’s right to pursue happiness in his own way if they do not infringe on the rights of others in the process.
Not every business in a municipality and town even within Wake County, where Raleigh is located, will immediately be able to sell alcohol before 10 a.m. on a Sunday. Each town will hold votes by their own governing bodies to determine how they will exercise the easing of restrictions granted by the Governor. If a town votes to maintain the restriction of alcohol sales the state will not interfere. This is precisely how limited government should work. The principle tenet of individual responsibility and limited government should be the promotion of the of the idea that elected representatives govern as closely to the homogenous interests of small groups as possible.
This is key. By affirming free-market principles we affirm that individuals and collected individuals have the right to govern themselves as they wish. If representative bodies seek to impose certain ‘moral’ laws on their constituents it is the duty of the people to petition, exercise their right to vote and ultimately change the laws if they deem that those laws are oppressive to their way of life. We may not agree with every law that a community 3,000 miles away from ours passes but we should affirm their right to govern themselves as they see fit.
Representative government is perhaps the most efficient and moral system that mankind has devised to date. Through the delegation of powers to fewer individuals we transfer the responsibility through a comparative advantage of time spent in creating and enforcing legislation to individuals we believe will best represent our interests. This leaves more time for the business owner to operate his store, bar or business or for a consumer to spend his capital in a market economy.
Esteemed free-market economist, Ludwig Von Mises describes two systems of political economy as such, “Tyranny is the political corollary of socialism, as representative government is the political corollary of the market economy.” North Carolina’s passage of a bill allowing local governments the flexibility to govern themselves as they see fit as it relates to their market economies is a huge step toward advancing personal and market liberty. We would do well to champion the victories of local government against state legislated morality to promote individual responsibility and the creation of a limited sphere of government. Not all countries and towns in North Carolina are obligated to change their laws, but having the freedom to do so is integral to the development of a market based, free society.
