Legislating Morality ~ Prohibition, Gun Control, and the 21st Amendment

Progressivism was a movement of the early twentieth century that sought political and social reform through education, industrialization, direct democracy and increased government intervention.  Perhaps the most monumental—and also the most controversial—progressive reform was the prohibition of alcohol.  'Strong drink' seemed to be at the root of most social problems: drunken parents neglected or abused their children while spending money on alcohol instead of on food or clothing; prison inmates blamed alcohol for leading them into crime, and businessmen supposed alcohol to be indirectly decreasing production through worker absences and accidents due to drunkenness.  The progressives saw Prohibition as a means of eliminating these major social issues; the general supposition was that crime and poverty would be outlawed along with alcohol.

Prohibition was established by the Eighteenth Amendment, ratified in 1919, and progressives assumed everything would fix itself after that.  We all know that nobody could acquire a drop of liquor during the roaring twenties, right?  No, an illegal bootlegging industry quickly sprang up, with “moonshiners” brewing and selling liquor under cover of darkness, “rum runners” smuggling in alcohol from the Caribbean, and illegal saloons serving bathtub gin.  Organized crime and police corruption flourished.  The “roaring twenties” were called that for a reason!  It was soon realized that instead of solving the social problems I mentioned, Prohibition had actually made things worse; only thirteen years after it took effect, the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment. 

I have recounted this piece of our constitutional history because it contains some modern parallels that have seen heated debate for years, and conveys a very important lesson for Americans today.  The Twenty-first Amendment taught us that there are things the government can and should reasonably and successfully control or regulate, and things it absolutely can and should not.  Firearms, now taking the place of alcohol in this sense, are being viewed as the root of many societal problems, and are being outlawed in an attempt to solve those issues.

It is my fervent contention that neither alcohol nor guns are inherently evil.  Each has the ability to amplify the character and intentions of the one who holds it in his hands.  Alcohol has beneficial uses, both medical and medicinal, depending upon whether it is applied externally or internally.  Guns have enabled some of their owners to protect themselves or others, or defend their country; and others to conquer or commit murder.  We didn’t need to keep liquor from God-fearing, sober men in the twentieth century, and we could not effectively keep it from those committed to abusing it.  Neither can we succeed with the kind of gun control that would, in any reasonable attempt, keep guns from being abused by those bent on evil without crippling the ability of the law-abiding citizen to utilize these tools for good causes.  This problem will perhaps never disappear, but it cannot be resolved by the passage of a law that attempts to deny persons something that they will not be denied.

The point is that those individuals who are willing to be held to a certain set of morals already are, while persons seeking more than tacit approval of their behavior are already engaging in it at will, and will continue to do so.  Morality cannot be held in place by legislation.  The government created by the United States constitution is a self-government, whose success depends upon the moral responsibility of its keepers.  As John Adams aptly stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  Individuals must accept an inherent moral code, because without it their actions cannot be effectively controlled.  The Eighteenth Amendment and the resulting Twenty-First Amendment are permanent scars on our Constitution: they are a stark reminder that the morality of a nation comes from deep within the hearts and consciences of individuals, not from government legislation.