There was a program on this afternoon about prohibition – a documentary. I wasn’t really watching, I was doing other things. But it reminded me how bad a law the 18th amendment was, how it led to widespread criminal enterprise and how the citizens, the upright as well as the downtrodden, were on chummy terms with their bootleggers because they wanted their liquor and no one was going to stop them.

The minute the amendment was repealed, all the bootleggers were out of business. No more machine-gun confrontations between rivals and no more ingeniously cooked whiskey killing people with toxic substances. Voila! Peace in our time.

It got me to wondering what would happen if the Republicans succeed in getting the White House and start to implement their platform that includes not only criminalizing abortion but also criminalizing contraception. Do they really think this will work? Can’t you just see the population at large, including Catholics, conniving with the underworld to get what they need? I can. I can also see, in addition to back-alley abortions, competent physicians jumping in for a fee, one step ahead of the law. Particularly if they need to augment their income in the face of draconian reduction of Medicare fees, another part of the Republican wish list. Hey, it’s the 30’s. Let’s party.