Sunday, November 4, 2012

Baptist and Bootleggers- When Political Opposites Attract

Developers stand to make millions in the urbanization of Marinwood-Lucas Valley by converting our low density neighborhoods into high density apartments, condos and single family homes. The question is how do YOU benefit from this urbanization?

 Some "environmentalists" have joined developers in Urbanizing Marin.  How strange that 40 years after saving marin from overdevelopment,  phony environmentalists are leading the charge for development.  It is a political alliance known as "Baptists and Bootleggers" from the days of Prohibition.

Don't believe the fluff that you'll be saving the planet. Increasing people means increasing pollution and traffic, crowded schools, more urban problems. Our peaceful Lucas Valley will be sold to the highest bidder for profits. Zoning changes mean private developers will be welcome too.

If your home and neighborhood is worth saving, find out more. Tell your neighbors. Stop "Marinwood City" from becoming a reality.

 

 Bootleggers and Baptists



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Bootleggers and Baptists is a political model in which opposite issue positions lead to the same vote. Specifically, the criminal bootlegger favors prohibition because decreased supply generally equals a higher profit margin for the criminal bootlegger. The preacher favors prohibition, citing religious reasons. Both the criminal bootlegger and the preacher vote in support of prohibition. The politician capitalizes on this, receiving financial contributions from the bootlegger while citing the preacher's morals in campaign speeches.

 

[edit] The story

[1][2][3] One version deals with regulations on the sale of alcoholic beverages (blue laws), which was first proposed by Bruce Yandle in a 1983 Regulation Magazine article.[4] The story can easily be applied to other regulations.[5] One version begins with preachers in a rural county demanding the government ban the sale of alcohol on Sundays. "Alcohol", they say, "is a vile drink and efforts should be made to restrict its spread through society, especially on the Lord's Day." The Baptists' electorate votes the county dry.
But the demand for alcohol does not disappear with the supply. People still want to drink on Sundays and so the bootleggers step up and illegally sell alcohol. And because the supply is restricted because far fewer people are selling liquor, one day a week the bootlegger gains monopoly power and the lucrative market that goes with it.
The Baptists, in their turn, point to the widespread use of alcohol on Sunday as evidence that laws need to be tightened further, and propose to ban sale of alcohol on Saturday as well. This causes a spiral of tougher and tougher laws that are harder to enforce, while the bootlegger gains further power.
Willie Morris's memoir North Toward Home contains an example of this phenomenon
 
 

Developers stand to make millions in the urbanization of Marinwood-Lucas Valley by converting our low density neighborhoods into high density apartments, condos and single family homes.  The question is how do YOU benefit from this urbanization?

 

Don't  believe the fluff that you'll be saving the planet.  Increasing people means increasing pollution and traffic,  crowded schools, more urban problems.  Our peaceful Lucas Valley will be sold to the highest bidder for profits.  Zoning changes mean private developers will be welcome too. 

 

If your home and neighborhood is worth saving,  find out more.  Tell your neighbors. Stop "Marinwood City" from becoming a reality.

 

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