Comments on: Prohibition Blegging

By: Ned Netterville

Ned Netterville — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:59:08 +0000

I’ve heard tell that there are families in the Cumberland Plateau mountains that state criminal investigation folks refer to as the CP mafia because as many as five and six generations of family members have served time in state or federal prison. In the past it was for making moonshine; more recently for growing pot or makiing meth.

By: nate-m

nate-m — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:35:24 +0000

The modern equivalent is gangsters and medical marijuana store owners joining forces with campaign money to try to keep pot illegal.

By: Roger Bradley

Roger Bradley — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:47:30 +0000

Art:

Around twenty years ago my former professor Bruce Yandle at Clemson introduced the “bootleggers and Baptists” hypothesis, in which the criminal elements who sought profit from restricting alcohol sales in the South “allied” (at least in a political economy sense) with the religious elements of society who just wanted less consumed. I don’t recall the specific citations at the moment, I’d bet a search of “bootleggers and Baptists” would be a step in the right direction.

By: Jim Hanson

Jim Hanson — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:14:15 +0000

I don’t have Tennessee specific info for you, but I’ve done extensive research on church-state relations in the Early Republic leading up to the Civil War.
The key take-away I would offer is that any influence was indirect at best. Tennessee is more “southern” in its orientation (using that term as a counter-point to New England in the Early Republic rather than as a Civil War term). The “southern” attitude toward religion in politics was to allow religious organizations to advocate to their respective flocks as they will but not to allow them direct access to government power. Most “southern” states even had constitutional and statutory restrictions that dis-allowed clergy to serve in elected offices.
I’d love to discuss this topic more with you. Please contact me at jim.hanson1972@gmail.com.