clipped from: ruthholladay.com   
Ringing in Sunday booze sales
clipped from: ruthholladay.com   

Masson's Blog has an insightful and amusing post -- a twofer -- on Hoosiers for Beverage Choice, those bold progressives who are pushing Indiana to get with 35 states and permit alcohol sales on Sunday. More of us can get behind that bandwagon, which is only about 75 years overdue.


Our "blue laws" regulating Sunday sales in the U.S. are quite a history lesson, stretching back to the Puritans and long before. Historically, some European countries refused to allow any commerce on Sundays. That was God's day, and you couldn't sell a pot or swallow a brew. Naturally the Puritans brought this part of the Old Country with them.


Indiana has its identity strongly tied up in this crusade. During the 1920s, 90 of our 92 counties had active members of the Ku Klux Klan -- and the KKK, lo and behold, was heavily aligned with the Prohibition party, if not synonymous. Hence getting rid of booze was a No. 1 Klan goal.