🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <65490@hydra.gatech.EDU> gt0418c@prism.gatech.EDU (Shane Wm. McWhorter) writes:
>IMHO, the issue has very little to do with alcohol.
>
>Before the 1960's, the VAST majority of Georgians voted
>for legislators to represent thier majority opinion: that
>there should be separate schools: one for whites, and one
>for non-whites.
>
>In that case, the federal goverment had to send in armed soldiers
>to enforce the United States Constitution.n, against the will of the
>majority.

Minor point of order here - it may have been against the will of the
majority in the *state*, but not in the nation.  Since the federal
government pours some money (and lots of regulations) into schools,
this kind of intervention is at least understandable.  

>Little has changed in 200 years, when Thomas Jefferson said the
>most dangerous faction is the majority.

And the goverment which governs least, governs best (or was that 
Thomas Payne?).

>I doesn't matter IN THE LEAST that "most Georgians" don't want liquor
>sold on Sunday. It's illegal for the state to enforce the moral opinion
>of a religion. Muslims think its Friday, and Jews Saturday. There are
>more Muslims in the world than Christians, so if you believe the majority
>has the authority, then you better get a prayer rug.

Another minor point of order - I don't know where you got your stats on
the world's religious breakdown, but my World Almanac lists the 1990
Encyclopedia Brittanica as giving the planet's Christian population as
1,758,778,000, as opposed to a Muslim total of 935,000,000.  Whether
these figures are absolutely reliable, I don't know. 

This really doesn't affect the validity of the argument, though.  What
is more to the point is the only the majority of American opinion is 
of much concern to Americans.  We are hardly unique in this attitude -
other nations in the world feel the same way about themselves.

>If Georgians don't want to sell liquor on a Sunday, why don't they
>start a referendum to change the U. S. Constitution?
>
>Let's move the day to Monday. I wouldn't want to buy beer on a Monday. :)
> | Shane Wm. McWhorter | Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center | 

While I happen to think that many of the attempts to produce separation
between church and state are patently ridiculous, and amount more to a
suppression of religious freedom than in ensuring that no one religion
is favored, the alcohol sale issue seems more clear cut (I've also heard
the Monday hangover argument, and I don't buy it).

Anyone know if there are movements afoot to open up liquor sales on
Sundays, in Georgia or elsewhere?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^  Dr. J(effrey Neil Burch)                 jb118@prism.gatech.edu    ^
^  Georgia Tech Research Institute                                    ^ 
^  Electro-Optics and Physical Sciences Laboratory                    ^
^  Atlanta, Georgia                                                   ^
^  30332                        When in peril, or in doubt,           ^
^  404-894-3628               Run in circles, scream and shout.       ^ 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^