Replies

It was repealed because it did become an enforcement issue and so that government could get tax revenues on the sales.

Prohibition was not strongly enforced. Allowing alcohol consumption to continue despite the law did funnel funds into the hands of outlaws and the less scrupulous members of society. That money trail did lead to a level of corruption in society.

During the great depression, municipalities were looking for new sources of tax revenue. Allowing alcohol sales was viewed as a big potential source of revenue.

I think it can be safely argued that a law that is not enforced well is worse than no law at all and in fact breeds disrepect for the law as well as funnels money to those willing to break the law.

OK. Why the 18th Amendment was overturned by the 21st Amendment 14 years later if it was such a success?

"Unintended Consequences." It did what it was supposed to do, that is, lower the consumption of alcohol. The experiment worked in that our alcohol consumption is to this day lower than it was prior.

The unintended consequences was that it united criminals into organized crime. Money was to be made. Criminals working together could make far larger amounts of money than if they worked alone. Crime spiraled out of control. You have to choose what you want: less alcohol consumption or less crime. We decided that we could live with the alcohol if it meant less crime. That's the situation we live in today.

Re-imposing prohibition would have the same effect as before.

I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions about the present prohibition of drugs, the prohibition on guns in some large cities, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and other things for which there may be unintended consequences.

The successes were a lot less visible to the public than the problems.

There is no difference today. TN just voted to admend it's constitution to allow a lottery. Our forefathers knew a lottery was not a good thing. That's why they put it in the state's constitution. Those who have studied the effects on other states will tell you and funds contributed to education are more than offset by negatives in other areas of society including the damage done to families and the effects of bankruptcies on businesses and credit availability.

But could you hear that during the campaign. No, the people are envious of surrounding states that have lotteries and there is just no money in pointing out the evils associated with the lottery.