This issue is always open to fallacious oversimplifications. People claim Marion will be more civilized now that it has liquor by the drink. More upscale people will come to stimulate the economy. Baptists are afraid more people will die from auto accidents; and if people get a designated driver, they can beat their wives when they get home. Libertarians are probably celebrating the end of violent crime related to black market moonshine sales.
Back when I used to teach at AB Tech, a colleague in the physics department was a very talented writer in his spare time. He complained to me on occasion about the inanity of sitcoms. They needed to sell ads and keep their ratings, and they needed to do it fast. So. they did away with plots, character sketches, and all those things that our English teachers told us to include in compositions, and settled for sex and innuendo.
I am reminded of this every time local governments want to prey upon vices to grow the tax base. It goes without saying that the role of government is not to enable people to get in trouble; but a lot of folks don’t seem to realize that increasing revenues is not a basic city/county service.
