Ending the Connecticut Blue Laws
Offline So today I've decided to call my State Senator and express my concerns about the Connecticut State Blue Laws ... for those of you who don't know, a Blue Law is a kind of law that's meant to enforce [often antequated] moral standards. While many states and municipalities in the United States and Canada still have Blue Laws on their books, they often go ignored and uninforced (esp. the more ridiculous ones involving mandatory church attendance, the prohibition on dancing or the prohibition of total commerce on Sunday).
The State of Connecticut, where I was born and recently moved back to, had, historically, some of the oldest and most severe Blue Laws - having first imposed them directly after settling the New Haven Colony in 1638 . In an interesting aside, one of the main reasons that the New Haven Colony was founded was because the settlers thought the Massachusetts Puritans too, for lack of a better word, liberal and their Blue Laws, not harsh enough. It wasn't until the 1970s that businesses were allowed to be open on Sunday, and even today it is illegal to sell alcohol out of a liquor store or wine shop on Sundays or after 9pm on other days - Granted, you can go to a bar and get alcohol, but I find this all rather incongruous.
I feel the Blue Laws, generally, and the ban on the sale of sealed alcohol on Sundays, specifically, are nothing short of religious tyranny - the imposition of a sectarian agenda on people - namely me and others - who are secular, non-religious and/or do not feel a Biblical (im)morality should be imposed on us in 21st century New England. No one denies that these laws were developed by the Puritans to impose their Christian-derived values on the Colony of New Haven (later coalesced with the Colony of Connecticut at Hartford). It is an insult to our secular state & nation, as well as a insult to the notion of free enterpise, that this immorality continues in this, one of the more enlightened states of the Union.
Perhaps this is somehting RRS should look at more closely - researching where Blue Laws exists and beginning to lobby State Reps and Senators to redress this historical injustice ...
I'll also let you'all know how the call goes when I get a chance.
I'm off myspace.com so you can only find me here: http://geoffreymgolia.blogspot.com
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Pennsylvania in the last few years got rid of similar laws.
NJ has these laws as well, but it varies by town. In fact, some towns are completely dry, no alcohol at all.
I think the reason these still exist is because... well, no one really bothers too much to try to change them. I'm not sure how many hoops a person would have to jump through to get these laws changed.
I personally think they are stupid. For example, all liquor stores must be closed by 10 pm on weekdays, 6 pm on Sunday. However, I can go to a bar and get take out until 2 am. Oh, and my local Rite Aid has a liqour license, so I can get booze there on a Sunday until 10.
Please keep us posted, I'm interested to hear the outcome.
Oh, and welcome back!
If god takes life he's an indian giver
Remember any time you try to liberalize alcohol laws (like changing forced closing times or trying to get drinking age to 18), at least in the US, you get the idiots who make the red-herring argument about drinking and driving. MADD used to be a good organization, but now they are neo-prohibitionistic.
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
I also bet it has something to do with tradation. People probably just think thats the way its always been so why change? (yes i know its a logical fallacy but they don't understand that)
Thanks for making us aware of this issue. Where practical, it is important for us to support these efforts to make changes but the danger I frequently see is that many people bring such things to light and never take any step to change it. They wait for someone else to do it for them. I'm glad to see that you are not waiting for others. make the call, lead the charge and let us join/assist you.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca
So I just got off the phone with Laura, Connecticut State Senator (Democratic) Andrew McDonald's legislative aide - she said that the issue came up in 2003 with a legislator from Bridgeport (Conn.'s biggest city) and the former Republican Governor of the State, John Rowland (who resigned from office amid a curruption scandal and spent sometime in jail) looking into canceling the no booze on Sunday law, but was killed because - get this - the liquor store owners don't want to be open on Sundays. Besides the usual, "I think this is an sectarian imposition, clearly unconstitutional, etc." speech, I said, "Well, it wouldn't be a mandate - liquor stores could be closed whenever they want to be close, it would just allow any proprietor who wanted to stay open, to do just that ... !" This woman was very patient and lovely and assured me that the Senator would get back to me, which I actually believe ... besides, I have his home phone number now ... She also suggested that the Senator would suggest legislation if a constitutant said it was something they cared about - I told her I was that constituent and I want those laws off the books.
Here's the actual law I want gone:
Chapter 545
Sec. 30-91. Hours and days of closing. Exemption.
(d) The sale or dispensing of alcoholic liquor in places operating under package store permits, drug store permits or grocery store beer permits shall be unlawful on Decoration Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, New Year's Day, Sunday or Christmas or, if Independence Day, Christmas or New Year's Day occurs on a Sunday, on the Monday next following such day except that such sale or dispensing shall be lawful on any Independence Day occurring on a Saturday; and such sale or dispensing of alcoholic liquor in places operating under package store
permits, drug store permits, and grocery store beer permits shall be unlawful on any other day before eight o'clock a.m. and after eight o'clock p.m. It shall be unlawful for the holder of a manufacturing permit for a brew pub to sell beer for consumption off the premises on the days or hours prohibited by this subsection. Any town may, by a vote of a town meeting or by ordinance, reduce the number of hours during which such sale shall be permissible.
And, for shits and giggles, here are some of the original laws enacted by the Governor of the Colony of New Haven (1638):
The governor and magistrates convened in general assembly are the supreme power, under god, of the independent dominion.
From the determination of the assembly no appeal shall be made.
No one shall be a freeman or have a vote unless he is converted and a member of one of the churches allowed in the dominion.
Each freeman shall swear by the blessed God to bear true allegiance to this dominion and that Jesus is the only king.
No dissenter from the essential worship of this dominion shall be allowed to give a vote for electing of magistrates or any officer.
No food or lodging shall be offered to a heretic.
CONCERNING THE SABBATH:
No one shall cross a river on the Sabbath but authorized clergymen.
No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep houses, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath Day.
No one shall kiss his or her children on the Sabbath or feasting days.
The Sabbath Day shall begin at sunset Saturday.
Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver, or bone lace above one shilling per yard shall be presented by the grand jurors and the selectmen shall tax the estate 300 pounds.
Whoever brings cards or dice into the dominion shall pay a fine of 5 pounds.
No one shall eat mince pies, dance, play cards, or play any instrument of music except the drum, trumpet, or jewsharp.
A man who strikes his wife shall be fined 10 pounds.
A woman who strikes her husband shall be punished as the law directs.
No man shall court a maid in person or by letter without obtaining the consent of her parents; 5 pounds penalty for the first offense; 10 pounds for the second, and for the third imprisonment during the pleasure of the court.
I'm off myspace.com so you can only find me here: http://geoffreymgolia.blogspot.com