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DEL.ICIO.USThe Sunday sales issue and the Republican conundrum
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After weeks of hemming and hawing, the bill to permit the Sunday sales of beer and wine in grocery stores passed through a Senate committee on Tuesday.
But despite what Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour has said, a floor vote in the chamber isn’t a sure thing yet.
We asked around after the vote. Expect S.B. 137 to be the topic of intense discussion within the Senate Republican Caucus.
From what we hear, many in the Senate want substantial evidence that the House Republican leadership intends to bring the issue to a vote in that chamber before they’re willing hang their rear-ends out the window.
Republicans in the Legislature are trapped between two competing social forces. First, there’s the time pinch that has caught up most of suburban Georgia, that rich but often practical vein of GOP votes.
With both parents usually working, and Saturday devoted to softball, soccer or whatever with the kids, Sunday has become the day to fill the kitchen cupboard for many Georgians.
According to the Georgia Food Industry Association, 25 percent of grocery chain customers shop on Sunday. But more important, one in 10 customers shops only on Sunday. It’s the flip side of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s call for time management when it comes to purchases of alcohol.
The phenomenon is relatively recent, and explains the timing of the discussion. Call it an outgrowth of those loyalty cards some grocery chains use to track buying habits.
On the other hand, some religious conservatives — members of the Republican ideological base — have drawn a line in the sand on this one. They feel it’s a case of creeping secularism, yes. But it’s also a test of their continued clout within the state GOP.
Boiled down, here’s the conundrum that the Sunday sales issue presents to many GOP lawmakers in suburbia: Overall, their districts want the liberty to buy what they want on Sunday.
But anyone who knows anything about this most recent rise of fundamentalism in America — and Christian conservative clout in the Republican party — knows that it isn’t merely a rural phenomenon. It’s largely a suburban thing.
Those same suburban districts that demand Sunday sales are dotted with super-church congregations who march in lockstep to the polls, especially in Republican primaries.
It’s significant that Jim Beck, leader of the newly re-organized Georgia Christian Coalition, has chosen this issue to establish his clout. Beck picked up the pieces of the Coalition when Sadie Fields left last year to form the Georgia Christian Alliance.
Fields is present and accounted for in this fight, but it’s Beck who has repeatedly and publicly pointed out to Republican senators that a vote in favor of this bill would be dangerous to their health.
Beck compares the intense feelings of religious conservatives have on this issue to the fervor that Confederate enthusiasts felt when the ’56 flag was pulled down by Gov. Roy Barnes six years ago.
“You almost have to be a member of the group to understand how important this is to us,” he said.
Comments
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By south ga conservative
March 14, 2007 10:47 AM | Link to this
If republican senators & house members vote for this piece of legislation the religious right of the state party i think will vote these people out of office & possibly vote in conservative rural democratsvjust to make a statement to the state gop party.
By JustMe
March 14, 2007 11:22 AM | Link to this
The republicans are hypocrites.
They say they want small government, but want to control what we do and when we do it.
They say they want less taxes, but then run up large deficits by over-spending.
When will GA voters wake up to their lies? We foolish Georgians continue to believe them - hook, line, and sinker…..
By Burdell
March 14, 2007 11:28 AM | Link to this
SB 26 was DOA. The new bill is SB 137.
By Mike K.
March 14, 2007 12:41 PM | Link to this
So Jesus DIDN’T turn water into wine? Apparently a lot of fundies don’t read their Bible.
By Al
March 14, 2007 12:50 PM | Link to this
What’s the problem? Republicans are supposedly pro-business, but businesses suffer under this sort of totalitarianism! Legalize alcohol sales on Sunday and help businesses!
By Harry
March 14, 2007 12:56 PM | Link to this
I’m for anything that reduces booze consumption. Where is MADD on this?
By FrankLeeDarling
March 14, 2007 1:25 PM | Link to this
what is wrong with letting people vote on this issue. i thought that was what this country is all about. if you dont want it, vote no. true conservatives need to distance themselves from the republican party as they do not represent true conservative values anymore,it has been taken over by a fanatical faction of christians.normal people are starting to see this.lets take our country back to real american values like freedom
By FrankLeeDarling
March 14, 2007 1:30 PM | Link to this
MADD is special interest lobbist group the promotes unconstituional legislation
By FrankLeeDarling
March 14, 2007 1:39 PM | Link to this
creepin secularism? our goverment is suppost to be secular to insure that we all have the right to worrshipe as we please without other relgions mores pushed upon us
By x-gop
March 14, 2007 3:42 PM | Link to this
FrankLeeDarling: the one who cry out against “creepin’ secularism” operate under the delusion that the right to worship only pertains to the right for us to worship according to THEIR directives. They don’t believe in choice. They don’t truly believe in freedom. All they really believe in is what government gives them, which is pure, unadulterated POWER over the masses.
By aa
March 14, 2007 5:12 PM | Link to this
Why not amend the bill to allow everyone, except Christians, to purchase alcohol on Sundays?
By x-gop
March 14, 2007 5:32 PM | Link to this
aa: because then Georgia would be the most atheist state in the nation.
By cobbconservative
March 14, 2007 10:49 PM | Link to this
If Jim Beck of the Christian Coalition was really concerned about family values, he would try to change the fact that Georgia already allows drinking on Sundays. Current law lets us drink, then drive home. Isn’t this obvious to everyone that this guy does NOT represent the majority of Christians I know!! I sure hope
By Mollie
March 14, 2007 10:59 PM | Link to this
I still haven’t heard a valid reason why one can buy a drink in a strip club in Atlanta on Sunday but we can’t buy a bottle of Chardonnay for a family dinner on a Sunday…
Its not just hypocritical, its gross!
By randy k.
March 14, 2007 11:09 PM | Link to this
Mollie makes a great point. Our new Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle should understand how hypocrytical this is and show everyone that he represents the vast majority of Georgians(including everyone in my Bible study.) Let’s be a leader and not let this issue die.
By aa
March 15, 2007 1:05 PM | Link to this
X-GOP, if that happens, then I’m sure math and science test scores would soar through the roof! ;)
By snd
March 15, 2007 1:56 PM | Link to this
What did Lewis say…Fascism will come to America wrapped in the flag and holding a cross.
By x-gop
March 15, 2007 3:52 PM | Link to this
The key thing to point out here is that this issue isn’t about voting or public safety. It is about one thing and one thing only: POWER. It is about one group’s proof that they still hold and wield power over the rest of us. They don’t want us to make this choice because they don’t believe in choice any more than they believe in freedom.