unfriendly USA

I continue to be amazed (and disgusted) by the attitudes toward alcohol in the USA.
The very idea that it is so tightly a regulated substance is insane.  I can't say it's easier to
get a gun than buy a beer; but if people were as carefully and frequently controlled when it
came to purchasing guns, I dare say many lives would be saved.

And, it is above all the zeal with which the citizens of the USA willingly embrace and
participate in this tight control of alcohol which most disgusts me.

Don't get me wrong.  I would never drive after the smallest glass of beer or wine. But, I do not
think the USA has a drunk driving problem (or, for UK readers,  "drink driving" problem..).
The USA has a public transportation problem, not an alcohol problem.

The problem in the USA is the absence of decent public transport.  (The El Paso bus system
uses low quality buses.  The buses run infrequently, and do not run non-stop through the night.
And, the authorities seem more interested in creating buildings where patrons must wait
(and spend money on various junk food) than avoiding the need for waiting by an increased
frequency of service and more buses----not to mention trams, or "light rail", and actual trains....
(All very sad and pathetic!))


These remarks were prompted by an experience in a local grocery store.

A young man in line in front of me at the grocery store was trying to purchase beer.
He looked as though he had just come from a day of difficult physical labor.
And, it was not easy to purchase the beer.  The cheerless guy behind the counter was grilling him
with questions.  I could not quite hear, but either he thought the ID was fake or something was
wrong.

It seems pathetic and ugly!  Some guy has been working all day and he can't simply buy
beer to drink without getting hassled about his age.  (Did he just "look" too young?---or what?)

And the guy on the other side of the counter was deathly serious as if purchasing beer
were the most important thing in the world.....That, too, strikes me as obnoxious and pathetic.
Was he afraid of what his boss would say if he were not so joyless and stern, or does
he imagine that he will prevent auto accidents in this way?

The amount of energy spent by people in the USA controlling other citizens is breathtaking.
Hardly my idea of a free people...