Love Comes Calling (28 page)

I
s it possible to legislate morality?

As I saw this book beginning to spiral around that theme, I tried my best to stop it. If you're like me, you probably hate that question, because let's be honest, if you answer “yes,” others view you as naïve. If you answer “no,” then you're suspected of having thrown your personal standards to the winds. But that was exactly the debate at the heart of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

On January 17, 1920, Prohibition went into effect, and America declared itself to be a dry nation. The Volstead Act, which provided enforcement to the amendment, prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol—except for medicinal, research, industrial, or religious purposes—although the actual
consumption
of alcohol was never prohibited. You couldn't make it or possess it or sell it, but you could drink it. Especially if you had a doctor's prescription! Federal enforcement of the amendment was tepid
at best, and at least one state never passed laws to enforce the amendment at all.

Was Prohibition a success?

In many parts of rural America, drinking dropped by half. But in cities like Boston and Chicago, the number of tickets issued for driving while intoxicated went up substantially. As always happens when something is forbidden, the underworld gladly stepped up to provide alcohol, and crime increased as criminal networks were organized to meet the demand. By some estimates 100,000 speakeasies could be found in New York City alone. These far outnumbered the saloons that had existed previously.

Was there anyone during the 1920s who chose to obey the law? Of course there was. Many people never let a drop of liquor touch their lips. And some of the descendants of those people still don't today. Apparently, those who had abstained before Prohibition continued to do so . . . but those who enjoyed a drink before Prohibition was enacted still did, no matter what anybody said. It didn't change much of anything except to formally divide our nation into halves. Those who drank (mostly urban dwellers and immigrants) and those who did not (mostly those who lived in rural areas).

Prohibitionists saw the ravages alcohol had perpetrated on society in the form of violence, the destruction of the family unit, and ruined lives, and they tried to fix it by applying a broad solution. Many of those who supported Prohibition did it with the intention of helping their fellow man: those like the poor and immigrants, who ought to know better than to drink but couldn't seem to help themselves. A significant part of the population supported the law on other people's
behalf; they didn't really think it applied to them. But for many others, the solution seemed more like a punishment.

In some ways, however, Prohibition was the great leveler. Speakeasies did what old-time suffragettes had all but given up on: more than promoting liquor, they brought into being true equality of the sexes. In speakeasies, women were finally able to drink beside men. And what's more, they were able to smoke too! Dubious achievements you might say, but those forums liberated a whole generation of women whose mothers had been raised to think men and women couldn't enjoy their leisure time together.

What's certain is that when Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933, gangsters and crime syndicates were firmly entrenched within society, there were more alcoholics than there had been before, a generation of Americans had grown up understanding it's okay to break the law, and the idea that politicians weren't to be trusted became imbedded in popular culture.

How could a law so well-intentioned have brought about so many horrible results? Perhaps it can be explained in the difference between an authoritarian approach, which encourages rebellion, and an authoritative approach, which encourages dialogue. Can you legislate morality? You can try, I suppose (and wouldn't the world be a better place if it worked?). But given the outcome of Prohibition, I would say it's unlikely to succeed.

So what is a person concerned with the moral welfare of a nation supposed to do? You can't force anyone to do anything, but you can try to influence their choices. You can talk about consequences, and you can make the benefits of your own choices more visible to other people.

It has been noted that the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was the only amendment that restricted Americans' rights. All the other amendments actually expanded them. Am I a skeptic? Not exactly. There were many unintended consequences that resulted from the Eighteenth Amendment, but at least one of them was positive: It's much more difficult to buy a drink now than it was during Prohibition in the 1920s; we seem to have chosen self-correction as a society. I have to think that as tempting as it is to try to force people to do the right thing, we were designed for the freedom of choice. Laws have never been able to change human nature, and only God can change hearts.

1. Has doing a favor for a friend ever gotten you into trouble?
   
2. Has a misunderstanding ever caused you to take drastic measures or ended in a comic moment?
   
3. How would you describe Ellis? How did she describe herself? Is there a difference in the way you view her and the way she viewed herself? Why?
   
4. Through the course of the story, Ellis discovered that work is hard. How old were you when you came to that realization?
   
5. Ellis's professor and parents thought her problems could be solved if she would just buckle down and apply herself. Ellis, however, understood that she couldn't because she wasn't like everyone else. In what ways are you not
   like “everyone else”? How have you dealt with this? And who exactly
   is
   “everyone else”?
   
6. This book was filled with faulty assumptions and unmet expectations. Which of them stood out to you? What has your experience with assumptions and expectations been?
   
7. What sort of expectations did your family have for you as you were growing up? Were you able to meet them?
   
8. Where do you draw a line on moral issues in the political sphere? Is it worth trying to legislate morality? Are there any alternatives?
   
9. Whose fault was it that Irene died? How far is it necessary to go in being your brother's keeper?
   
10. Ellis repeated Emile Coué's mantra, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” What do you say to yourself? What effect are those words having on your life? On your relationships?
    
11. If you could help someone change their role in life, who would it be? How would you do it?
    

The Messenger

A Heart Most Worthy

She Walks in Beauty

Love's Pursuit

A Constant Heart

Unrivaled

Love Comes Calling

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