Alcohol and the Republic

Abstract

The mistake of Prohibition was not repealed with the coming of the alcoholism movement and the concept of alcoholism. Both Prohibition and the disease concept are based on the view that society and the community are little more than the individuals who make them up, either the sum of individual virtues or individual capacities and abilities. Both theories accept an optimistic view of the possibilities for changing individuals, either through moral reform or through science. Both reject a permanent role for government in limiting (rather then eliminating) alcohol problems. The public health perspective does not seek to fundamentally alter human nature, and relies on legislation and regulation, as well as education, to limit consumption generally in order to control the scope of alcohol problems. Public health measures are justified by a theory of democracy that stresses the need for limits to individual and group desires and interests in order to promote the common good.