Those who insist upon being pissed off at State Senator Shawn Mitchell, even when they have no good reason to be, may be pleased that I have discovered a real reason to be annoyed with him.
Roger Fillion reported for the February 26 Rocky Mountain News:
The Colorado Senate gave the final thumbs up Monday to a bill that would allow liquor stores to open Sundays, a big step toward scrapping the decades-old ban on Sunday booze sales.
The measure now goes to the House, where it’s expected to face tougher resistance. The bill, SB 82, cleared the Senate in a 23-8 vote.
I decided to look up the “no” votes:
Following is a list of the senators who voted against the measure, along with their party affiliation:
Bill Cadman, Republican
Jim Isgar, Democrat
Andrew McElhany, Republican
Shawn Mitchell, Republican
Scott Renfroe, Republican
David Schultheis, Republican
Jack Taylor, Republican
Tom Wiens, Republican
Are you noticing any trends here?
It’s not like this is an ambiguous issue. Business owners and their customers have a moral right to do business on mutually beneficial terms, on any day that they like. The (partial) ban on Sunday liquor sales violates free markets and freedom of association (and also the separation of church and state, given that the Blue Laws are rooted in religious restrictions).
So the next time that a Republican lies to you and tell you that Republicans are for free markets, remind the Republican that it took a Democratic legislature to move seriously to repeal to the Sunday booze ban, and seven of the eight senate votes to maintain the ban were cast by Republicans.
Remember that the Republican Party is the Other Party of Big Government.
Great point, Ari. I’ve quoted you and added an observation of my own at my site.