Hello Freedomphiles!  So, did you know that in Tennessee, they have no "open container" law?  Yeah, so if you're not shitfaced, you can drive around all day, drinking some Budweiser right in front of the cops.  Well, at least for the time-being, you can.  KnoxNews reports:

A legislative proposal to expand Tennessee's ban on open alcohol containers in cars could have the unintended consequence of cutting funding for specialized drunken-driving prosecutors and police overtime for enhanced DUI enforcement.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation currently loses out on road-building money because the current open container ban - which applies only to drivers but not to passengers - is out of compliance with federal standards.

That causes about $12 million in federal road money to instead be earmarked for the Governor's Highway Safety Office.

Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet and a main sponsor of the measure, said in a committee hearing last week that changing the state law "is necessary for us to be able to use $12 million in highway funds that we're receiving to actually put down pavement."

Now, I don't necessarily have anything against open-container laws - but I do have a problem with something else this story highlights - the use of federal funds to extort States into behaving in ways the federal government doesn't have the Constitutional authority to mandate.

Frankly, I'm mystified no one else cares about this.  We have Constitutional limits in place for a reason, and these blatant end-runs are robbing states of their sovreignty and undermining our federalist system of government.

If you think a state should adopt a law, run for the state legislature instead of federal, you hamhanded twat.

The second point I wanted to make revolves around this passage:

The state currently uses that money to pay for 24 specialized drunken-driving prosecutors, for police grants and for parts of Tennessee's "Booze It and Lose It" public awareness campaign, according to the Department of Transportation.

Kendell Poole, director of the Governor's Highway Safety Office, said he has seen no studies that link drunken-driving fatalities to open containers in vehicles. And his office has been able to use the federal money effectively, he said.

"In the last 10 years we've reduced alcohol-related fatalities 25 percent," Poole said.

That's a pretty good number, there.  Perhaps that awesome improvement is due to that money going to more useful preventative measures than an open-container law.  Just a thought - as they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.