Friday, March 27, 2020

Things that we should ponder

SO since restaurants are closed, and people can only get food from them via delivery or take-out, in many locations the liquor rules that would "normally" prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages under these circumstance have been "relaxed". (and it is a pretty cool world where you can get a margarita DELIVERED to your door, innit?)

Now, if there was a good reason to prohibit the sale of alcohol in such circumstances 2 weeks ago, those same reasons should exist today....right?

Or, if the sale of alcohol is OK in these trying times, then why shouldn't it be OK 6 weeks or two months from now when this coronavirus crisis has ebbed?

I mean, if we were restricting the sale of alcohol to on-premise consumption for some reason other than to keep the prohibitionist people happy enough that they would stay quiet and now they've been told to shut up, then is that a good reason to put those restrictions back when this is all over?

I'm thinking that this is but one example of rules and regulations...laws and ordinances that could be stricken from the books when things get more normal shaped.

Relaxing the rules on when truckers can drive, how long they are on duty? We were told that this was to make us safer on the roads. But have we sacrificed any safety by letting those drivers drive an extra hour or two just so that the shelves of the local supermarket can be stocked with cereal? With more Toilet Paper? With Frozen orange juice?

I could bring other examples to this, but at some point it becomes redundant.

And, again, if our government can still make the wheels turn and the busses run on time and the water flow and such with only "essential personnel" in place, then do we really need all those other people in those offices eating up tax dollars? Yes, those offices probably DO need a few more than those few working today, but do we really need to have the other 50-75 (or more) percent of the staff that is currently "Sheltering in Place" if they are able to accomplish their duties right now?

When this is all over, we should push for a closer look at ALL the laws that were relaxed for the "emergency" and see if we really need 'em. And we should seriously look at cutting staffing in local, county and state office, much less the Federal ones.


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