Say What? A New Temperance on the Rise?

 

Say What? A New Temperance on the Rise?

Published in Marietta Daily Journal (GA) April 1, 2023

            We all know that alcohol is deadly, that it kills dreams, reputations, families, and careers, as well as over 140,000 Americans every year. We might not know or realize that Americans, unlike the Mediterranean World and elsewhere, are downright mindless when it comes to alcohol. Or so my Italian sister-in-law observed when she first witnessed the drunken Saturday night drag racing on the road in front of our house, heard about bootleggers, and learned that many of the community’s best citizens fled every weekend to the closest county that wasn’t dry.

            “A-med-i-cans no understand. They no be smart about drinking,” Antonia mused one Monday morning after we all learned of the weekend alcohol-related accident down the road that killed a young woman and left a 17-year-old male mangled for life.

            But Americans gotta have their booze. It actually wasn’t until the early 19^th century that citizens began to be concerned about the effects of alcohol consumption. Under the leadership of pastors, community leaders, and especially women, Americans were made aware of alcohol’s devastation. Yes, alcohol was responsible for much of the crime back then too, as well as for ruined individual lives and ravaged families. So much so that drinkers were urged to “temper” their drinking. Thus began “temperance work” or “the Temperance Movement.”

            Christianity Today, a leading evangelical magazine founded by Billy Graham, reports that throughout the 19^th century, in spite of high class social drinking and “the raucous saloon culture of the American west,” temperance work and prohibition appealed to “a broad swath of society.” Its reporting must have been accurate, given the fact that in 1919 Congress passed the 18^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors.

            The Roaring 20’s ignored the 18^th Amendment and reduced that broad swath for sure, assisted by the rising tide of Hollywood culture and the German families who brought Pabst and Anheuser to our shores. Despite the efforts of Protestant Fundamentalists, Pentecostals, and the Temperance Movement in general, the 18^th Amendment was repealed by the 21^st in 1933. Since then, in regard to liquor, it has been Katie bar the door. Today teenagers still consider their first alcoholic drink the rite of initiation into adulthood. This obviously doesn’t bother brewery owners. It must excite them since they’re building breweries at every crossroads in the land. It doesn’t bother too many sipping community and political leaders either, even though they know quite well that drinking leads to destructive scenes like the one mentioned above by which my Italian sister-in-law was shocked.

            But hold on to your seats. Timothy Carney, senior columnist for the Washington Examiner, argues that a new temperance is afoot. He asserts that the devil’s brew is next in line for cancellation. What he further states will warm the hearts of all teetotalers and of adults who have lost a teen to Friday night drinking. Twitter, Carney says, is filled with promises never to drink again. Vox, the journal frequented by leftist millennials, has run articles on the value of prohibition and the evils of alcohol. Teetotaling, chortles Carney, is once again in vogue.

            I rejoiced to learn of Carney’s prophetic words, and although I have read that nonalcoholic beers are increasing and that booze-free pubs are cropping up, even in D.C., I still figured Carney was too optimistic. Then who should appear on Tucker Carlson Tonight but the affable Joe Germanotta, the father of Lady Gaga Herself. Proudly and happily proclaiming his personal victory over alcohol, “Mr. G.” explained how he is successfully decreasing the amount of alcohol in drinks at his restaurant and how he no longer likes the taste of it. “I feel tremendous and no longer drink rivers of Scotch,” Germanotta declared. A Catholic, he could have passed for a committed Baptist.

            Even so, today we are still the United States of Corn, Barley, Grapes, Spring Break, “Happy Hour,” Feel Good, and Good Taste. But the taste is often that of dependency, embarrassment, and ruin. State Representatives, School Superintendents, Judges, and ordinary folks have been embarrassed because of this fact. Tempering actually doesn’t always work. The temper-er is still tied securely to his or her social lubricant and to the damnable and damning curse of what we call status symbol.

            I choose to take some hope from Carney’s reporting and Mr. G.’s conversion. But given our history, that hope is limited because even though alcohol is more than twice as deadly as guns, Americans gotta have their booze. God help us.