No to Near Beer!

You make some good points, but the nightmare scenario you propose simply will not come to pass. Why? As you and I can attest, people HATE 3.2% beer. No one wants to drink it. Liquor companies will surely respond to this overwhelming dislike of their product and raise the alcohol quantity in those states which allow them to do so.

In fact, I think your example actually proves my point. In the absence of fedeal regulation of alcohol content, states are independently regulating beer. And companies are dealing with that by selling certain products in one state and other products in other states. There is a patchwork of regulation. The Republic still stands.

Companies can certainly choose to limit the amenities (and I use that word loosely -- all we're talking about here are clean toilets and water) to people trapped on airplanes in other states. Or they can choose to make this standard the standard for everybody. But don't give us some namby-pamby "patchwork of regulation" argument as the reason this regulation will hurt you. Companies choose whether it's a patchwork or not.

I don't see why making companies deal with different regulations in different states is any reason to prohibit states from making regulations. The companies should be adapting to the state's needs, not the other way around.