We feel for Rick Donley; really, we do. Especially after reading this morning’s New York Times article by Chris Smith (Texas Tribune). How befuddling it must be for Donley, as president of the Beer Alliance of Texas (read: lobbyist for big boys Bud Light, Miller Lite, Budweiser, Coors Light and Natural Light), to have to continually explain why allowing small breweries in Texas to distribute their beer is such a bad, bad idea, how it will ruin us all, and how your very children will be in danger if craft breweries are able to make their product available under the same regulatory channels that the big boys do.
Here are some favorite passages:
Mr. Donley said he worries that their products could be shipped to dry counties or to minors. “This regulatory system has worked well since Prohibition,” Mr. Donley said. “Why anybody wants to disrupt it is a question I can never quite get an answer to.”
and
…while the locally brewed beer business is booming nationally, it is lagging in Texas, where the laws governing distribution are restrictive.
You may recall that we broached this issue in our October 2010 issue; many of you echoed our frustrations. Now’s the time to keep pushing, folks, especially since the lunacy of our regulatory system is qualifying as national news. Want to join the fight? Check out Texas Beer Freedom, a non-profit lobbying group on OUR side of the issue.
I encourage you to read the entire article to get how truly transparent and ludicrous Donley’s argument is. (And let us know if you, to, see obvious parallels to a certain family values argument that makes levelheaded people boil in their boots.)
(Many thanks and props to Christopher Smith who wrote and researched the NYT/Texas Tribune article.)
