There once was a time when I was not even aware that this third planet from the yellow dwarf star had anything resembling laws governing alcohol distribution. However, since I now understand that this vast realm of liquid refreshment is almost a way of life on this planet, I was eager to understand what these strange set of rules human beings call laws entail. Once I had the information, I was amazed that human culture could bend themselves so willingly to suit to fine print in some archaic legal text. I was especially amazed that any sentient being would think it was an especially noble idea to take entire industries and make them subordinate to the whims of corporate monopolies in the name of “fair competition.” These kinds of restrictions seem like they are deliberately designed to force out the small business owners and push them into another industry, essentially herding them like sheep.
I found that many humans who have studied the laws of their third planet refer to the legal statutes relating to beverage and alcohol laws, that specifically target the manufacture of wine, beer and spirits as tied house, which implies that the manufacturer must “tie” themselves to a “house” in order to distribute their product to the social drinkers. It is fascinating how these laws originated with the view that it was to prevent one person from having too much power over an area where so many people gather to drink. However, it really works to close access to small business owners, making them pay outrageous amounts of money to even get access to a legal market.
It reminds me of so many other human activities that are prevalent in their society. Humans seem to constantly act as if they are willing to be suppressed as long as their leaders feel satisfied. It is not enough to simply extract resources from the planet and consume them. It always seems that they feel compelled to oppress and frustrate the small ones amongst them. I assume that they do this because they believe the giant ones can somehow shield them from raiders who would take their resources. It seems logically flawed to me to think that you can back a bully, but maybe that is what they are – bullies. I see no logical reason that the laws of any advanced civilization would permit the existence of tied house laws. So long as someone wants to drink alcohol or consume grapes, the providers of those substances should be permitted to sell to any consumer.
The only thing I think would be worse than a tied house law would be if there were planets that had laws similar to those in the outer districts of the Gamma Quadrant where if you didn’t consume their specific brand, you would be subject to deportation. Of course, there are a few places in the Orion Syndicate where this occurs, but that is nothing in the context of the whole galaxy. I only hope that even though there could be a planetary government that could make such laws, it will not happen here. I have faith that the humans of this planet are smart enough to find a better solution than enslaving themselves to corporate entities.