Make sense of progressive era through Prohibition movement
For readers who don't want to spend hours on this book, there is a PBS documentary called "Prohibition", pretty much covering all the main points of the book. It is no surprise as the author of the book is also one of the producers of the documentary.
Through the book, what I find fascinating about prohibition is that this movement is connected to all kinds of social changes in progressive era: women suffrage, income tax, labor movement, anti-trust. The prohibition movement also reflected American political/social environment of late 19 centuries and early 20 centuries: rising inequality of the gilded age, the fear and xenophobia caused by immigration, particularly catholic immigration, the interaction of interest groups and politicians.
I was surprised to find prohibition movement was led by women rights group (WCTU) initially. The reasons became clear when you realize the suffering of the alcoholic abuse fell disproportionally on women and wives. Later, the leadership of the movement shifted to dedicated single-issue interest group -- Anti Salon League (ASL). The whole book can be a good case study of how interest group influencing politics in America. ASL focused on single issues, and use the group of political activists to sway election (federal, local, congress, and presidential) at the margin. I believe many modern day's interest groups such as NRA, tea party, copy the playbook of ASL. Interest groups are also the driving forces for the repeal of Prohibition.
I was also intrigued by the undercurrent of progressive era exposed by Prohibition. Alcohol abuse was associated with moral degradation of black people and immigrates, reflecting the deeply rooted racial and ethnic bias and discrimination. One of strong incentive for drys to push 16th constitution amendment is to substitute alcohol tax with income tax, and vice versa, the strong incentives for rich people to repeal prohibition is to get rid of income tax.
Many conclusions can be drawn from the fall of the prohibition: the cost of implementation of the law matters, negative impact (bootlegging crime) from a well-intended legislation can be devastating, the moral legislation is generally difficult in a country that values individual rights. I believe many of those lessons we learnt from Prohibition are still relevant in today's debate about legalizing marijuana, prostitution and gay rights movements.
Through the book, what I find fascinating about prohibition is that this movement is connected to all kinds of social changes in progressive era: women suffrage, income tax, labor movement, anti-trust. The prohibition movement also reflected American political/social environment of late 19 centuries and early 20 centuries: rising inequality of the gilded age, the fear and xenophobia caused by immigration, particularly catholic immigration, the interaction of interest groups and politicians.
I was surprised to find prohibition movement was led by women rights group (WCTU) initially. The reasons became clear when you realize the suffering of the alcoholic abuse fell disproportionally on women and wives. Later, the leadership of the movement shifted to dedicated single-issue interest group -- Anti Salon League (ASL). The whole book can be a good case study of how interest group influencing politics in America. ASL focused on single issues, and use the group of political activists to sway election (federal, local, congress, and presidential) at the margin. I believe many modern day's interest groups such as NRA, tea party, copy the playbook of ASL. Interest groups are also the driving forces for the repeal of Prohibition.
I was also intrigued by the undercurrent of progressive era exposed by Prohibition. Alcohol abuse was associated with moral degradation of black people and immigrates, reflecting the deeply rooted racial and ethnic bias and discrimination. One of strong incentive for drys to push 16th constitution amendment is to substitute alcohol tax with income tax, and vice versa, the strong incentives for rich people to repeal prohibition is to get rid of income tax.
Many conclusions can be drawn from the fall of the prohibition: the cost of implementation of the law matters, negative impact (bootlegging crime) from a well-intended legislation can be devastating, the moral legislation is generally difficult in a country that values individual rights. I believe many of those lessons we learnt from Prohibition are still relevant in today's debate about legalizing marijuana, prostitution and gay rights movements.
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