South Dakota's alcohol laws will be under scrutiny this summer by state lawmakers and, as the Argus Leader reports, "direct wine shipment is the fiercest battleground." For some, allowing direct wine shipment is simply a matter of allowing the free market to operate without onerous and arbitrary restrictions. As a lobbyist for South Dakotans for Better Wine Laws, Dianna Miller, explains, “What the taxpayers—in my group, particularly—want to have ... is free choice."
South Dakota Beer Distributors lobbyist Bob Riter, however, is happy with things the way they are, especially due to the nature of the product: alcohol. “In a particularly, socially sensitive area like this...a distribution system that’s functioned in a proper manner for over 80 years has satisfied us, and ought to satisfy us, that it is a proper system.”
I'm not convinced that just because you've been doing something for eight decades means that it's the right thing to do.
Where do you stand on allowing direct wine shipments? And do the arguments against allowing them (distributor jobs, minor access to alcohol) hold any water, or wine for that matter?
