December 5, 2011
It was on this day back in 1933 that Utah came on board and ratified the 21st amendment the United States Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment and ending on the federal level alcohol prohibition. While the Repeal Day website will give you more history and Jeffery Morgenthaler wrote up his reasons we should celebrate here back in 2006, there is really only one reason as I see it to celebrate this day. It is as likely a reason we don’t already have it as a recognized holiday as well, though that might be base speculation.
The 21st Amendment is an out and out admission that the government was wrong. Granted the repeal from a governmental standpoint had a lot more to do with taxes and the like, but if it can be made to take a step back from one injustice, if it can be made to say and act in a way that shows it knows it was wrong about one error, it can be done so for them all.
If we can remember this day for what it is and press on in its spirit, there may yet come a time where we can repeal the Patriot Act, the latest evil in the latest National Defense Authorization Act or any number of injustices perpetrated against the average individual by those who have the audacity to make a claim upon him/her.
Remember, remember the 5th of December, of a return to liberty, I see it as treason to not remember the reason, to celebrate such liberty.
Stay safe and if you choose to drink, drink responsibly.
Ross Givens
