In William Shakespeare’s classic play Julius Caesar, Cassius makes a call for action to Brutus by playing on his love for the Republic and what evolves is one of the most brilliant lines in a Shakespeare work. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

When the FTC filed its redacted complaint against Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, LLC (Southern), people may have been surprised and many outraged at the FTC’s allegation that the price differential Southern charges small independent retailers is as high as 67% more for the same bottle of certain wine and spirits than the national or regional chains in the same area.

Many wonder how the system could become so tilted and unfair. The FTC decided the best course of action was to correct this inequality by dusting off the Robinson-Patman Act and utilizing the hammer of government to level the field.

But I can’t blame Southern as they may be playing within the rules of each liquor market in which they reside. In Illinois the “of value” regulations require a distributor to offer the same terms to “similarly situated” retailers and allows for quantity discounting. Bob’s Liquor and Walmart would not be considered similarly situated, whereas Binny’s and Total Wine would be. There are no rules on price differential, which is a positive because government involvement in the marketplace is a negative. Even when the government is supposedly passing policy that is well intentioned, the results don’t usually match up.

Who I blame is our political class that makes this system so entrenched that there is little competition and little alternatives. A Club I belonged to had members complaining about the rising cost of drinks. The general manager told them the hard truth, we can only buy our alcohol from one source and we have very little room to negotiate. Even when there are no franchise laws, often times there is only one source in which to purchase product.

By mandating the use of the middle tier, the governments throughout the states have provided large distributors great leverage over small retailers. Especially in franchise states, where there is only one source to provide liquor.

But to the political class the money from the wholesaler lobby trumps all other considerations, even considerations on what would lead to an open market and best results. The situation will only get worse as states double down on their fight to restrict direct-to-retailer access for suppliers. With the political class as their guardians of the faith, not only will needed reform not be forthcoming, but the system will get worse and any progress will be chipped away at. You have seen this with fulfillment house legislation and trying to narrow what is considered a shipper of wine. All policies that are advocated for by the wholesaler tier.

We can all demonize Southern, but Southern didn’t create the system, no doubt they protect it, but we should blame our political class and those who elect them, which is ourselves.

Maybe all these centuries later Cassius has espoused words of enlightenment. The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings to a system that allows this to happen!