The End of the World as We Know It (with apologies to Michael Stipe)

bSoooo....

I love election time. So much ammunition for me to stew over. The current debate here in Massachusetts is whether or not to let "supermarkets" sell wine. Here's the actual verbiage:

"Question 1: Sale of Wine by Food Stores - This proposed law would allow local licensing authorities to issue licenses for food stores to sell wine. The proposed law defines a "“food store" as a retail vendor, such as a grocery store, supermarket, shop, club, outlet, or warehouse-type seller, that sells food to consumers to be eaten elsewhere (which must include meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs, fresh fruit and produce, and other specified items), and that may sell other items usually found in grocery stores. Holders of licenses to sell wine at food stores could sell wine either on its own or together with any other items they sell."

I have to wonder why we are even asking ourselves this question. Granted, if this was 1780 and we were in Massachusetts, I get it. But only two other states don't allow this practice...
The opponents of Question 1 say that it will cause more auto accidents, (by those winos), more underage drinking (all those high school students who love a 68' cabernet to chug... as if Stop & Shop, a billion dollar company would risk $$ by selling to minors), and generally bring about plagues, a new form of the holocaust, and some sort of alien invasion. The fact is that studies have shown prices of wine in Massachusetts are higher on average because wine stores have a monopoly on their sales. The fact that other competitors could undercut their profits has some liquor-barons really ticked off. I love it.

But I do have one complaint. Why now?

I mean, this couldn't have passed about a few years ago when I was a binge-drinking college student? Now I am old and too tired to care.