When A TON Of Money Is To Be Made (Or Lost), Certain Illegalities Will Be Made Legal To Satisfy Corporate Sponsors
As a life long resident in the state of Minnesota, my whole life I have known that the law on the books outlawed Sunday liquor sales. It technically goes back to religious reasons, but this law has been on the books since MN became an official State 159 years ago. 159 years ago!!! This is just crazy to me. We have been forced to drive to Wisconsin if we really need our booze fix on Sundays.
There have been numerous attempts in the past decade or so to try and make Sunday liquor sales legal, but they all failed miserably. So what changed this time around??? Well, to put it bluntly, money. Like usual, where money is to be made (or in this case, LOST) it tends to make politicians do whatever the people waving money in their faces want them to do.
Hennepin county (Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs) was approved for a tax hike to build a new NFL stadium for our beloved Vikings. I'm absolutely not a fan of tax payers subsiding billionaire owners for new stadiums, but that is a topic for another day. The stadium is built and with new stadiums the chance at hosting the Super Bowl is at an all time high. There's just one problem hosting the Super Bowl in MN....no Sunday liquor sales for the mass swarm of people ponying up thousands of dollars to fly here, stay a few days, and enjoy the game, on a SUNDAY. Christmas Eve and New Years eve also happen to fall on a Sunday this year, but I would gander that the MAIN reason was the Super Bowl.
I can hear the phone call in my head right now. "Hey MN politicians, it's me, Roger Goodell (NFL commissioner), you want to have the Super Bowl in your city this year, you gotta make alcohol legal on Sundays." MN politicians: "OK, sounds good. We'll also assemble some really nice tax breaks for you when you visit to sweeten up the deal a bit." Goodell: "Congratulations, you're going to host the Super Bowl".
Why for many, many years could we not get this bill passed? But out of the blue it gets rammed through and gets approved?
imgs sourced from google
Thank you for this, and isn't it funny in the same month after repealing an arbitrary law in Minnesota, another gets passed. Instead of banning liquor on Sundays you now can't buy cats and dogs in a building that has the word "Petco" on it.
Yep, the dog and pony show continues. Except the dog show at Petco, that's over with ;)
True story, thanks for the quote!
The corrupt government only thinks about its own benefits
I would say that 'all' governments are inherently corrupt, but yes, I have to agree.
Our alcohol is sold by a provincial government (Ontario), and all the stores close at 5pm to 6pm on Sundays, which I thought was abhorrent policy. Now the employees are talking about striking ahead of Canada's 150 year anniversary, when they have maximum leverage. But you just trivialised it. None at all on Sundays, that is crazy!
How about we just let private business owners decide when they are open and closed. Seems the most logical to me. At least in Canada you can drink at 19 :)
Maybe it's because of the superbowl but kudos for getting rid of one more worthless law
I'm all for getting rid of more laws. The fact that it takes bribes basically, is the issue I have. Just shows how corrupt govt is.
yep same old story
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