Priorities and Perspectives: Sunday Sales

Sunday Sales proponents are a bunch of beer-swilling, Godless heathens!

Sunday Sales opponents are a bunch of Bible-thumping, holier-than-thou zealots!

Admit it...You resented one stereotype and agreed with the other.

Seems to happen with local hot-button issues like this. It's an easy way to dehumanize your opponents, make them seem foolish. Make sure everyone knows your point of view is THE only way to see the issue. People have a tendency to paint an issue the color of their own point of view, give credence to only one side of an issue - their side.

There is no better illustration than the local proponents/opponents of any alcohol issue around here. 

I've been labeled as an opponent of the Sunday sales measure. I'm not. It may surprise some of you on either side of this issue to find that I like beer. I enjoy a well-crafted brew every now and again, but it's just not a big part of my life.

I would have preferred the lawmakers handle it at the state level, grow a pair and remove the obvious "blue law" across the board. Well, they didn't. They went the Pontius Pilate route. Oh, they fussed and dithered, did some grandstanding before they washed their hands of it and then passed it to the locals to brawl over.

Here in Loganville, brawl we undoubtedly shall - but for the record, I don't really have an issue with Sunday sales.

The recurrent theme of the argument against Sunday sales is that Sunday is "a day of worship." As a Christian, I believe this to be true. But this fact is the very reason why it should not be a state law. Using that reasoning to continue enacting a state ban is the clearest violation of separation of church and state I've ever seen.

The opponents of Sunday sales know that, too. They're not fools, they know their constituents well...they are grandstanding.

 Don't get me wrong - I'm not exactly a proponent, either. This issue is like an onion. It's multi-layered and complicated, but most people won't bother to peel their way past the surface. There shouldn't be a law prohibiting such things on just one day for religious purposes, this much is true. Still, I just can't seem to find much cause for celebration.

For at least 10 years, alcohol issues have dominated Loganville politics. I don't understand why. There are issues that are so much more important that hardly rate a "meh" out of people. I don't get it. Perhaps a change of perspective is in order.

Thursday: A change in perspective.