Sunday poll

I’m going to try something new and different this Sunday evening. Certainly other websites have polls for readers to participate in, but I don’t just want your “aye” or “nay” opinion on an issue, I want to know WHY you feel that way. Think of it as a brief and ungraded take-home exam with the caution that it’s one where you could feel the wrath of the professor if your answer isn’t well thought out and written. It’s something I’ll attempt for a few weeks just to see how responses go and if it goes well I’ll keep it as a regular Sunday feature, although maybe not every Sunday.

My first question is on a local issue but I’m going to word it more broadly in order to solicit responses from the much larger area that reads monoblogue regularly. As a background, here in Wicomico County where I live we are one of just a handful of Maryland counties where liquor sales are exclusively through stores owned and operated by the county. It’s similar to a statewide system that I grew up with in my native home state of Ohio so it’s apparent to me that many other areas of the country likely have similar methods to sell and distribute potent potables.

Recently a call has been made for the county to divest itself from the liquor business and the likely next step would be a non-binding referendum on the subject, which in turn would guide the Maryland General Assembly as to whether or not to pass the appropriate legislation to allow that divestiture to happen.

So the question before you is:

Do you believe that state or local governments should control and profit from the sales of liquor and other distilled spirits, whether through their own specific stores or other designated locations? Why or why not? For the purpose of this question, the term “profit” does not include the sales and other taxes included in the price by state or local mandate.

Feel free to leave your answer as a comment, or if you’re shy you can reply to the e-mail address above under the subject line “Liquor poll.” If you do leave a comment, just bear in mind I only moderate them when I’m home so you may not see it for the better part of the day.

Next week I’ll give you the results and how I would answer the question.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.