Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by Myles Poland. If you would like to submit your own article or other content, with credit or anonymously, please email editor@amerikaner.org
There’s no shortage of guys demanding we DO SOMETHING™ in this thing of ours. In most cases, when I ask what that something is the answer is either dancing around a call to violence, or a lengthy soliloquy about the need to “rejoin the conversation about continental philosophy,” or some other heady excuse for sitting around and griping. I’ve had people waste hours explaining to me why voting is a complete waste of time, totally unaware that they’ve wasted more time explaining how voting is useless than it would take to just go vote.
There’s a pervasive idea within our spheres that Total Aryan Victory will be the work of a single moment, and that those yearning for it need only believe fervently enough in Adolph Hitler without lifting a finger themselves. The cavalry will come and will undo the century-long project communists and progressives have wrought on our great nation overnight.
Sure, everyone verbalizes the need for action, but vanishingly few act like it.
If you recognize that victory requires action from all of us but are sitting around because you aren’t sure what to do, you’re in luck. The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned a Reconstruction-era law forbidding the distillation of liquor at home, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives doesn’t seem interested in defending that law any further than it already has.
This opens up an opportunity to pressure our representatives at the national, state, and local levels to develop a framework for distilling liquor at home. And I’ve already done the work of writing a template for you to modify and send to your representatives. This is risk-free and can produce real, meaningful change and expand American freedom. Even if you don’t plan to distill liquor yourself, or if you like to pretend you commit felonies on the internet, this call to action is still for you. Maybe a friend or neighbor wants to try distillation. You writing your representatives helps them.
Here’s the plan:
You’re going to look up who your representatives at the national, state, and county level are, and their mailing addresses. You’ll need information for your US Senators, US Congressman, Governor, State Senators, State Representatives, and County Commissioners. It should be about a dozen people all told.
Next, you’re going to copy and paste the form letter printed below and change the [BRACKETED] words to each of your many representatives. For the letters sent to your Senators and Governor, you’ll change [RELEVANT POLITICAL JURISDICTION] to whichever state you live in. For your Congressman you’ll change it to the district in which you’re registered to vote.
Feel free to change and personalize any of the language below. If you’re familiar with your representative and know what they like to hear feel free to include that.
After you have a complete letter, print it out and sign it (signing letters is important!). Fold that letter, put it in an envelope, and mail it to the relevant representative.
Congratulations, you’ve just participated in political activism. Writing or calling your congressman, together with voting (particularly in down-ballot races), and commenting on the Federal Register produce the greatest effects for the least amount of effort and risk. Taking our country back will be the work of decades. If you can’t nut up and complete a trivial task like writing a letter, do you honestly expect anyone to take your power fantasies about overthrowing the government seriously?
Dear [REPRESENTATIVE],
I'm a resident of [RELEVANT POLITICAL JURISDICTION] and am writing you to urge you to support legislation and/or regulation that will permit the distillation of alcohol at home for personal consumption.
Recently the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 150-year old ban on distilling alcohol at home, opening the door to Americans distilling their own liquor. The ruling presently only applies to those within the 5th Circuit's jurisdiction, and plaintiffs to the lawsuit.
Home distillation creates a unique opportunity for Americans to experiment with novel mixes and techniques, perhaps leading to the creation of many more small businesses to service demand. The variety of creatively-named beers and wines from small brewers stocking the shelves of beverage stores all over the US is testament to the opportunity legalized home distilling presents.
Home distillation may appear to present myriad safety issues, however the people of New Zealand have been distilling at home for three decades. NZ authorities have stated outright that the number of house fires started by home stills is statistically zero. Further, tens of thousands of Americans distill flavor extracts and essential oils each year without injury to life or property.
Legalizing private distillation presents an opportunity to expand the liberty Americans enjoy and build goodwill and trust between the government and American citizens. I urge you to take steps toward legalizing at-home distilling.
Thank you for your time, and God bless.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]