The new Republican governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, is taking aim at his state’s oppressive and inefficient state-owned liquor monopoly. As this new Reason TV video explains, “Despite a reputation as a social conservative, McDonnell thinks that state-run liquor stores are a bad idea from both pragmatic and philosophical perspectives. Given budget crises, says McDonnell, “We can’t just do things the same old way. . . . Certainly there’s nothing I gleaned from the [Virginia] constitution that would have me think it’s better or required to have the government controlling distilled spirits.””

Watch and raise your glass to McDonnell’s stand for freedom and good policy. States such as West Virginia and Iowa have gained millions of dollars in new tax and license revenues by privatizing liquor sales and have cut spending by reducing the number of state employees required to work in the previously-owned state stores.