    He then discusses the issue of Prohibition. The 18th
Amendment outlawed the sale, manufacture and transportation of
alcohol. It was meant to curtail drinking, which in some parts
of the country had reached epidemic proportions. And Prohibition
worked: people drank less. Many people supported the amendment.
Esolen asks what Prohibition taught us about “legislating
morality:”   The issue, Esolen says, it not that alcohol was
problematic, or that Prohibition tried to address the problem.
No, the problem was who was being asked to do what:   Thus,
Esolen summarizes, the “noble experiment” of Prohibition,
despite it being repealed, set a precedent: big government is
needed to solve our problems: “We have a Prohibitionary State
that gives license to all kinds of evil, but that regulates and
restricts actions that are not evil, to manage the chaos that
results from the license.”  Read “Drunk, But Not On Whiskey”
at Public Discourse.  The Law  The Law