I agree. Take Wisconsin as an example. The culture here is heavily drinking based. If you haven't visited, you won't understand. Meeting friends/family/coworkers/strangers? At a bar/pub. 7 days a week. Completely normal. If you're socializing there's probably a beer in your hand. Even coffee shops have beer on tap and whiskey/scotch by the dram.
We have 3043 bars for a population of 5,664,893.
California has 3100 bars for a population of 36,969,200.
The states with the highest ratio are N Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska... Do you see the trend? We have a large % of the population without a lot of money.
Now, what do we lack? Reliable and cheap public transportation. I can drink piss beer all night on $20 but you want me to take a cab ride for $30 a few miles across town? No way. Not a chance people will voluntarily blow their drinking money on a taxi. At least Uber can be cheaper, but it's not prevalent or reliable.
Trolly/tram/train/buses to get quickly around town 24/7 for dirt cheap? You bet people would use them. But you've only solved the issue for a few major metropolitan areas; it's not feasible anywhere else. The rest of the state is rurual/farmland. After a long day of work on the farm you want nothing more than to throw back some cold ones and bullshit with neighbors at the bar. And then you'll drive home drunk, get up for chores, and start again. The cycle repeats.
I'm not condoning it. I've had many friends and family members have to deal with the consequences of their actions. But I can understand their plight. It's unfortunate.
Public shaming of drinking culture might be the only way to alter the behavior.
Yep. My girlfriend's cousin lives in semi-rural North Carolina, and it's the exact same culture. He was mentioning friend after friend in stories and then later talking about this guy's rehab, that guy's permanent disability, this guy's suspended license... All DUIs. It's pretty common to get done with work, drive to the bar, get piss-drunk, and slam into a telephone pole while driving home on the back roads. And the way he was describing it, it was completely normal and done all the time. That's crazy to me, but it's how people grow up and live there. Until that changes, you're going to see the next generation do the exact same thing.
We have 3043 bars for a population of 5,664,893. California has 3100 bars for a population of 36,969,200.
The states with the highest ratio are N Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska... Do you see the trend? We have a large % of the population without a lot of money.
Now, what do we lack? Reliable and cheap public transportation. I can drink piss beer all night on $20 but you want me to take a cab ride for $30 a few miles across town? No way. Not a chance people will voluntarily blow their drinking money on a taxi. At least Uber can be cheaper, but it's not prevalent or reliable.
Trolly/tram/train/buses to get quickly around town 24/7 for dirt cheap? You bet people would use them. But you've only solved the issue for a few major metropolitan areas; it's not feasible anywhere else. The rest of the state is rurual/farmland. After a long day of work on the farm you want nothing more than to throw back some cold ones and bullshit with neighbors at the bar. And then you'll drive home drunk, get up for chores, and start again. The cycle repeats.
I'm not condoning it. I've had many friends and family members have to deal with the consequences of their actions. But I can understand their plight. It's unfortunate.
Public shaming of drinking culture might be the only way to alter the behavior.