Nate over at FiveThirtyEight suggests that beer may play a role in this election. Namely the recent sale of Anheuser-Busch to Belgian brewer InBev. Americans may be attached to its American ownership for symbolic and practical reasons:
The objections aren’t just a matter of patriotic pride over Anheuser-Busch’s flagship Budweiser brand, which might be the most recognizably American brand in the world. Rather, the issue is that it is a near-certainty that InBev will cut jobs.
How do the candidates fall on this issue? Well, McCain is married to someone who will make millions off the sale of Anheuser-Busch as her distribution group owns a lot of stock. Obama says it may be regrettable but may not be rationally stopped. Nate suggests anti-trust issues could stop it.
Now, we here at Voting While Intoxicated take our beer very seriously. I don’t necessarily deny either of the concerns about the sale as being salient. However, living in Colorado, with its heavy saturation of microbreweries, I can’t claim to feel any great oppression of a brewing oligopoly. I have any number of options. Secondly, a more active and perhaps more affordable presence of InBev’s European brews as a result of this deal can only be considered a plus. Let’s face it, Budweiser, like Coors, Miller, and any number of other macrobrews, is crap compared to most other beers, including InBev selections like Stella Artois.
While there is much to argue in favor of America, we need to set aside the notion that we always do it best. We might do well to look to France to improve our health care system, to Sweden to improve our tax system, and to Belgium to improve our beer, not that they will tamper with Budweiser.
