Good Morning Gentle Readers,
A ban on direct shipment of wine to Michigan legislature takes effect.....wait for it.....on April Fools Day and the joke is on the consumer. Beginning today, it does not matter if you order wine from a store in Lansing or a winery in Napa, you can't have it delivered to your home.
HB
6644 was a response to a September 30, 2008 ruling by a Michigan
Federal Court that the state’s prohibition on out-of-state wine
retailers shipping directly to Michigan residents was unconstitutional.
Judge Denise Page Hood ruled that as long as Michigan wine stores could
ship wine to Michigan residents, out-of-state wine stores must be given
the same privilege.
Michigan chose instead to largely take that
shipping privilege away from its own wine stores, leaving consumers
with less selection and abandoning a chance to raise millions of
dollars in tax revenue.
The Michigan
Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association contributed over $500,000
during the last election cycle to ensure the passage of HB 6644. The entire point of which was to eliminate competition by using the blunt force of law.
For sixty years American children have been taught that every problem can be resolved thus:
Write Your CONgressman or
Let's Put That To A Vote.
What if the legislature voted to stop Office Depot from shipping office supplies to Michigan consumers? What if they voted down buying CD's or books from Amazon?
You don't get to take a vote on how I get my groceries to the house. Why should you get to vote on how I get my wine?
As Always,
The Wine Commonsewer
Tip of the glass to Tom Wark