The arguments for and against privatizing liquor sales in Virginia are so familiar they need no repetition. Tough. The public is about to hear them all over again.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has said he wants to revive the debate over the proposal, which consumed much of his first year in office. The administration made a huge tactical blunder when it tried to sell privatization as a way of raising revenue for road construction. That turned the discussion into a debate over the math, where McDonnell stood on weak ground at best. The way to raise revenue for road construction is to raise the gasoline tax, whose value has been eroded by inflation and fuel-efficiency gains.
The ABC debate is a question of principle: whether the government has any business selling booze. It doesn't — any more than it should be selling cigarettes, shoes or Shaker furniture. The state's proper role is to police liquor sales rather than promote them, and to date no one has articulated a sound argument otherwise.
Nevertheless, Democrats are not about to give up the revenue that comes from ABC profits, nor are they about to give a policy victory to a GOP governor mentioned as a national prospect. So it looks like Richmond is going to force another round of pointless bickering down the public throat. We feel a hangover coming on already.
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