Why do you think we drink so much?

Sacramento "Bees" Cheerleaders having a drink or two.
Where do people get these crazy ideas?
The Sacramento Bee takes on this question and suggests some interesting theories. I have a feeling our readers my have a stronger opinion or two than the trolls who read the Bee. The lean with this article, however, is on drunk driving and Sacramento’s high alcohol-related accidents.

One is how easy it is get a drink. Per person, Sacramento has more groceries, drugstores and other liquor outlets to buy booze than any big city in the state, other than Bakersfield, according to state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control numbers.

Nah, I think the old “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” response applies here.

One patron, Jeremiah Harvey, a 27-year-old lawyer, said many people aren’t as afraid of getting a DUI as they used to be because the price isn’t as high. “Now, it’s going to be expensive, but it’s not going to ruin your life,” he said, sipping a bourbon at de Vere’s Irish Pub. In Sacramento County, a first-time DUI offender typically pays about $2,000 in fines and court costs, has to spend at least 48 hours on a work project and serves three years on probation.

Now we’re talking. The old “Risk/Reward” logic. Could be on to something here.

And yet another factor could be that Sacramento is the state capital, where alcohol lubricates the wheeling and dealing. Public officials sometimes set a bad example. Just since spring 2010, state Finance Director Ana Matosantos, Assemblyman Martin Garrick and then-state Sen. Roy Ashburn all pleaded no contest to driving drunk downtown.

Not bad, our culture definitely follows the “Do as I say, not as I do” approach to behavior.

So, what do you think? Like the article says, should we even admit we have a problem?

Author: RonTopofIt

RonTopofIt is a complex personality, as are most of the small breed of modern day renaissance millionaires. He wishes more people were like him and yet believes that it takes all kinds. You've met RonTopofIt many times, you just don't remember him.

8 thoughts on “Why do you think we drink so much?”

  1. Too many BROZ in Sacramento! It is the source of many of our problems, especially this one. And now that downtown is turning into a BROZ heaven, it will only get worse.

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  2. Without the bros, you’d find someone else to blame for your problems.

    We drink because life is short, because we have no control over the government that controls our lives and the people who control our government; we drink because we work to be able to afford the best for our kids, which means that we can’t spend time with our kids, which would be far better for them than the life we think they want, and we secretly know this but feel powerless to change; we drink because we fill our lives with endless amounts of STUFF that does absolutely nothing to make us happy and just keeps the whole cycle going.

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  6. No, @hwog. You don’t get it. We live in a representative democracy, so we ARE the government. We are the people who control it, even more than the monied interests that support both parties. When I say we have no control over the people who control our government, I mean we have no control over ourselves, we have no self-control, we have no way to move forward in concert. Only fits and starts, pulling ourselves down as much if not more than we move forward.

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