Editor,
There are many that say that, “Government is too large, it is overstepping its intended reach; it’s inefficient and that anything that can be done more effectively by private enterprise, should be done by private enterprise.” And those people are right. Here is where that philosophy is in complete contradiction with what is being done currently in the state of Utah.
The state owned and operated liquor stores. Having the state controlling the sale and distribution of liquor is akin to the country of Israel owning and operating a chain of Honey Baked Ham locations. It is also similar to putting people who have never driven cars in charge of making and enforcing traffic laws.
Additionally, the fact that currently, state-owned stores are purposely off the beaten path, have narrow open hours, carry a limited selection, and have high prices. It is apparent that the scheme is half intended for the business to fail.
There are some who feel that is lawmakers way of imposing their morality on others and a way of controlling alcohol consumption. This backfires when a large number of consumers decide to make their alcohol purchases out of state. Granted this is a hard figure to put numbers on, however I challenge people to randomly audit liquor cabinets in this state and see what percentage of bottles contain the DABC sticker. Even better, go to the parking lots of liquor stores in the border towns of Evanston, Wendover, or Mesquite. The vast majority of the license plates on the cars are from Utah. When these purchases occur, the state of Utah gets zero revenue.
There are many things that will be discussed in this next legislative session and fair majority will involve appropriating funds. It is time for the state of Utah to join the majority of the rest of the U.S. and turn over liquor sales and distribution to private enterprise where it belongs. If you share the same feelings please find contact your representative at http://www.utahsenate.org/aspx/roster.aspx
Rob Ramage
Farmington
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