Ah, the days of bathtub gin...

The roarin' twenties.

It was a time of jazz music, the Model T Ford, and indoor plumbing. The Charleston; the first color movies; the first "talkies." Babe Ruth belting home runs.

It was a festive time in America. An age of jubilation.

Oh yeah, and it was a time when alcohol was prohibited.

I found myself thinking about this today. It's an interesting thing to consider, prohibition.

First of all, I don't know why our government ever thought they could outlaw alcohol. But they did: The 18th amendment to our fine Constitution.

Of course, it didn't work. Look at the sponsors for any major sporting event and you'll see that Prohibition fell a little short of its goal.

But why am I writing about the roaring 20's and Prohibition?

Because as I found myself thinking about this today, I began to long for those days---days I never experienced.

I long to live in an era when the most dangerous man in America was a bootlegger selling liquor from hideouts throughout Chicago.

In the 20's there was Al Capone. Now we have Osama Bin Laden. And others like him.

In the 20's the police and federal agents were sniffing out speakeasies and stills (which, for those of you who never watched The Andy Griffith Show, are used to create moonshine). Now our feds sniff out potential airplane hijackers and meth labs.

I live in the Chicago area now, and it's interesting to see how the roarin' twenties, and especially Al Capone, are glorified in artwork, restaurants, memorabilia. Not too far from me, on the Fox River, one can eat at a former speakeasy: Al Capone's Hideaway.

I think that alone says something about what it was like to live in the 20's. Capone, the decade's most notorious thug, is now glorified. Almost as famous as Babe Ruth.

Do you think we'll have a restaurant in this country that pays tribute to Osama Bin Laden in 80 years? I sure hope not.

And what will America look like in 80 years? It's scary to consider, actually. At least I think it is. Our world is complex, our country is economically interwoven with so many other nations, the technology (and weapons development) worldwide has closed the distance between us and other countries---both metaphorically and geographically.

And it makes me long for the days when our biggest threat was a bunch of guys brewing and selling alcohol. When a dance floor full of tipsy folks dancing the Charleston was dangerous enough to demand legislation to protect the American people.

I don't wish to reinstate Prohibition. (That would be a disaster.) But it would've been nice to live in a time when that was our nation's biggest problem. That's all I'm saying.

--Thanks for Reading

Note: Some of you might say that alcohol is still our nation's biggest problem. If you look at the number of drunk driving deaths each year; the number of alcoholics; instances of drunken rage. And if you want to make that argument, I will admit that it's a valid point. It just wasn't the point of this post. After all, drunk driving wasn't a reason for the institution of Prohibition laws.