Say I have myself a little vegetable garden, and I want to make a little money from it. I can't compete with the mega-farms, so I decide to specialize, getting really good at, oh, tomatoes and cucumbers. I set up a stand at the farmer's market, developing a mailing list of my best customers. I start shipping to some of them directly. Then the Supreme Court comes along. Some tomato- and cucumber-growers in Ohio, forbidden to ship to customers in Indiana, have cried discrimination. You're right, the court says. Out-of-state tomato and cucumber growers can't be treated differently from in-state ones. The state now has two choices. It can forbid all direct vegetable shipments or permit them all. Though it has a long history of letting Hoosier gardeners do direct mailings, for some inexplicable reason it goes the other way. The gardeners sue.
The legislature is persuaded to intervene on behalf of all backyard tomato- and cucumber-growers, which would also benefit the lazy pea- and onion-growers who haven't been paying attention, but never mind that. But at this point, the vegetable wholesalers speak up. If backyard gardeners are allowed to ship directly, Wal-Mart will come along and snap up all those vegetables dirt cheap, allowing Wal-Mart customers to get such bargains that all those tomato and cucumber middlemen will be out of jobs. The chief vegetable-watcher in the legislature, otherwise known as the Senate president pro-tem, suddenly realizes that there is pending litigation and kills the bill.
Now, should we consider all the convoluted maneuvering over this issue any less silly and oblivious of common sense because it is about wine instead of vegetables? It isn't only Hoosier legislators who seem punch drunk on wine -- they're going through it in Kentucky, too.
