News
‘Free Our Spirits’ campaign seeks major changes to NC ABC system
Statewide push to overhaul NC liquor laws aims to expand retail sales, cut taxes, and reform ABC boards to boost choice, transparency, and efficiency.
Opinion
Statewide poll shows North Carolinians think it’s time to end the ABC system
Talk to almost any North Carolinian on the street under the age of 65, no matter their political leaning, and they are likely to agree that there should be an unequivocal end to the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (also known as the ABC system, or simply the ABC). Most North Carolinians believe all...
Opinion
Robert Doughton and the Blue Ridge Parkway
One of my favorite drives around the U.S. is the Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina. Mountains and valleys covered in trees, a sight to see any season but especially during summer and autumn. Some of my fondest childhood road trip memories were with my grandparents, while my grandfather drove and told stories about the parkway or...
Opinion
We can’t all be experts
I have strong opinions — but not about how to perform brain surgery, write an app, design a golf course, or produce a hip-hop album. Perhaps you do have a strong view about one of these, but almost certainly not about all four. Why? Because none of us can simultaneously be a surgeon, a software...
Opinion
Arcane N.C. ABC caters to college kids, problems drinkers, and the poor
The roots of the N.C. ABC extend to Prohibition, the unintended consequences of which shattered the country. The Alcoholic Beverage Control system, as designed, was meant to control the sale and consumption of liquor. It has done anything but. Rather, this antique system has enabled problem drinkers, even catering to alcoholics needing a large quantity...
Opinion
Hearing over liquor shortage reveals the obvious: N.C. ABC system is a mess
Lawmakers held a hearing recently focused on the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system. Their goal was to learn why ABC store shelves are empty and why bars and restaurants are scratching and scraping for typically ubiquitous brands such as Jameson’s and Titos. The ABC blames problems with the global supply chain, but that’s only part...
Opinion
Liquor business should be private
I have little confidence the ABC system will manage its operations much more efficiently in the future than it has in the past. It’s a monopoly. That’s how a monopoly works — or, more to the point, fails to work.
Opinion
Broadband tops list of legislative priorities for upcoming session
The General Assembly will convene its biennial session Jan. 13. They’ll talk about how to get the economy back on its feet, address a learning gap in education, improve access to quality health care at an affordable price, put together a tax and spending plan and begin the centennial redistricting process. But perhaps the most immediate...
Opinion
N.C. sells liquor through 170 independent, political boards: What could go wrong?
It has begun. Or, probably more accurately, a local and statewide crusade to prevent privatization of North Carolina’s liquor business is intensifying. Even though legislative efforts to move toward a system of private licensure are relatively nascent, and a leader in such labors is retiring after his term ends next year, local governments are settling...
Opinion
Alcohol reform may be coming to N.C., and it’s about time
The N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system — created in 1937 in the wake of the repeal of Prohibition — for the past 80-plus years has remained mostly static. But this may soon change, as lawmakers have offered several proposals to repair the broken, outdated system. But what’s interesting this session, despite the many past attempts to reform the system,...
Opinion
Local governments still don’t need to get in the broadband business
In 2011, a then-new Republican majority in the N.C. General Assembly was alarmed at an expensive new trend in local government. Residents in Wilson, Salisbury, Mooresville, Davidson, and Morganton were being hit with higher taxes and even electricity and water rates as their cities were bleeding money. Why? To pay for their cities’ decision to...
Opinion
Momentum builds toward ABC reforms, but don’t get cocky
Talk of momentum is mostly an exercise in mysticism. Unless measured physically — as it relates to velocity and mass — momentum is figurative, nothing more than idea, a feeling. Yet it’s an apt description of something in motion, and I can think of no better word to represent the steady progress of ideas —...
