Nice essay! However, I feel you could improve it by either proving there was an effort at "limiting the freedom of others" or chucking that weak-ass argument out ;) I see that phrase all over FB. It comes from current Republican talking points for the feeble minded (sorry).

Humans try to be as accommodating as possible. Live and let live.

As you wrote, alcohol destroyed families. Men would take their money and spend it all at the salon. What was left to bring up the kids?

The unintended consequence that women didn't see at the time was American manufacturers. They were sick of losing profits from hungover labor. I believe it was their lobbying that pushed prohibition through. If anyone wanted to limit men's freedoms it was the factory owners ;)

In the end, women got the right to vote because they were a sobering influence on men and, with the manufacturers efforts to execute prohibition failing, it was recognized (thankfully) as the only solution that could work going forward.

You make a great point about today. The same odd bedfellows are emerging!