Throughout the reporting on the economic crisis in Greece, I keep hearing reports of the ending of social cohesion, the end of that pact we have with each other, the beginning of the guy with the ammo is king. I expect it will pass because at the end of the day, you can always have a beer... right?

With only nine barrels and 40 cases of beer left, the Winona American Legion may run out this weekend, which is a big concern for Post Commander Sam Sasser. "We still have our bills to pay," Sasser said. "We have our mortgage. We have our staff that we have to pay. We still have costs and we depend on the sales. We depend on the beer and liquor sales to keep this business going.” Sasser says the legion sent in the paperwork and $20 to renew its buyer’s card early, but when the government sent it back, it gave them a new card, but a wrong printed date. Soon after they sent that back, the government shut down, leaving the post without a license to buy more beer.

Which makes me wonder. We talk of beer as a social lubricant and know that war is bad for beer - but is it also evidence of rational governance? Whether it is the compact of Thems, The People to the south of the big river or the benevolence of the Crown in more northerly climes, doesn't access to beer mean that there is no cause for revolution let alone social anarchy? Sure, you can point to pineapple beer as a sure sign of the tyrant... but is that really beer?

What is the lesson of the Winona Legion? Is it that we live in an over bureaucratized western world? Or is it that worship of political ideals of any sort - the thinest ideals going - looks a lot like the worship of idols? Notice they never name beers after Ayn Rand, Noam Chomsky or even Mahatma Gandhi? Imperial beer? They are lining up to name beers that.