When Governor Huntsman suggested the state should do away with the antiquated private club law, I figured it would get some resistance from the legislature. I’ve been watching the debate play out, cheering for Dave Morris – one of the most vocal leaders in opposition to the current law and the owner of the Piper Down where Drinking Liberally meets – and the Utah Hospitality Association.

What I didn’t expect was for the new clown of a Senate President Michael Waddoups to try to make our laws even more regressive. Despite his previous waffling on the issue, Waddoups has recently stated that he wants to start collecting information about drinkers in the state, recording where they go (and in his dream world how much they drink, no doubt) into a central database of sinners. And not just for bar patrons – he also wants to record everyone who has a glass of wine with their dinner in a restaurant. Privacy? Who needs privacy? What’s next, a Ministry of Information?

The Republican party claims to be the party of limited government, don’t they? How is creating a large database of your citizen’s social habits not an intrusion of government? And is this something the state should be spending money on?

To create a database of drinkers is to presume guilt before innocence; assumes the majority of drinkers are reckless and irresponsible. In my experience this is the opposite of reality. Don’t treat us all as potential criminals, Sen. Waddoups.