I have written a couple blog posts recently based on reflections inspired by Daniel Okrent’s wonderful book, Last Call. But there are so many wonderful tidbits from this book, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite quotes.
First there is William Jennings Bryan, a prominent force in the Democratic Party at the end of the 19th century, who colorfully described his opposition to the theory of evolution:
“It is better to trust in the Rock of Ages than to know the age of rocks.”
Of course he is completely wrong. But at least he is wrong eloquently.
Then there is the Kentucky Distillers and Distribution Company, which sought out a local alcohol treatment center and offered to sell them names of their frequent customers for $400. They bragged to the treatment center that:
“Our customers are your prospective patients.”
So much for business ethics!
I particularly enjoyed the song title by songwriter Albert Von Tilzer. He cleverly captured one of the unforeseen benefits of Prohibition, with his
“I Never Knew I Had a Wonderful Wife until the Time Went Dry.”
A newspaper reporter mocked the inability of Prohibition law to prevent people from drinking:
“It was absolutely impossible to get a drink in Detroit unless you walked at least 10 feet and told the busy bartender what you wanted in a voice loud enough for him to hear you above the uproar.”
Another person commented on the impossibility of stopping liquor smuggling across the US/Canadian border by saying:
“You cannot keep liquor from dripping through a dotted line.”
A man who made his business selling Scotch gave colorful advice:
“Of two evils, choose the more interesting.”
That is an aphorism that Oscar Wilde would be proud of.
And then, of course, there was Ernest Hemingway boldly claiming that
“a man does not exist until he is drunk.”
Ernest, Ernest, Ernest…
As part of Obamacare, people are required to get health insurance or pay a penalty. That’s what’s known infamously as the individual mandate. But is the penalty too small to matter? For some people, the penalty might be as low as $95. Would anyone in their right mind, who is not otherwise inclined to buy health insurance, buy it just to avoid such a small penalty? 
John “Eagle-faced” Raines had a simple goal in mind: put a big hurt into the evil saloon industry that was threatening the moral fabric of late 19th century New York State. Low wage workers were spending huge chunks of their Sundays (for many, the only day of their weekend) tipping pints at dingy saloons, when they would have been better off spending that money on food and clothing for their families.
In many ways, Jeremy Bentham was all about equality. As the father of utilitarianism, he believed that all social policy should be designed to maximize the happiness and pleasures of humans’ experience while minimizing the pains and miseries. And in espousing this theory of justice, he didn’t distinguish between upper class and lower class and men or women. He strove for politics that maximized human happiness. Nevertheless, when he first read the Declaration of Independence, he scoffed at the idea that all men are created equal:
Recently Mayor Michael Bloomberg learned that his Big Gulp ban 
