I’m as opposed to drunk driving and drunk drivers as the next sober person, but I’m no fan of MADD — the so-called “Mothers Against Drunk Driving.” They are among the nastiest of the Neoprohibitionists, the movement dedicated to eradicating every drop of alcohol in the country. Some years ago I was involved in sponsoring a “Free Trade, Free Beer” lecture series in D.C. The hosting organization received threats of legal action because some under-age people might come and might drink a beer (nothing harder was served and people were carded) and then might walk home. (It was virtually impossible to drive to or from the venue and almost all the people who attended walked.) The sponsoring organization’s lawyers said they face problems from MADD. So, the seminars were stopped.
Well, I just got a fundraising letter in the mail from MADD that enclosed a check to me for $2.50, along with a dare to cash it. Ok, that was easy. I hope that everyone else who gets such a letter from MADD does the same.
(Wikipedia has a reasonable treatment of MADD that includes links to their critics, as well as to their fans.)