Pennsylvania's motto should be a variation on the title of that old stage comedy "No Sex, Please, We're British." In the state's case, it would be "No Change, Please, We're Pennsylvanian." Whatever the issue, from reforming the size of the Legislature to moving the date of the primary, nothing brings out inertia in elected officials like the threat of change.

And in this state of business as usual, nothing has proved more unmovable than the monopoly of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. The relic of Prohibition continues to defy the experience and wisdom of other states, where liquor sales are safely entrusted to private enterprise to the benefit of their residents.

Sometimes the dawn of change seems as if it will never come, but a few weeks ago the Post-Gazette ran a series by reporter Steve Twedt titled "Monopoly Money: The Control of Wine and Spirits in Pennsylvania." The public response was encouraging.

Sure, the usual suspects lined up to argue that the system of patronizing quasi-socialism needs to be retained for the usual bogus reasons, but its customers wrote the newspaper to express their frustrations and to support the idea that this glaring anomaly should be reformed.

In Pennsylvania, this counts as progress -- and the public interest has been matched in Harrisburg by some baby steps taken to address the issue anew. Earlier this month, Sen. Rob Wonderling, a Republican from Montgomery County, introduced Senate Bill 1273 to privatize the state stores.

Just this week Rep. Robert Donatucci, a Philadelphia Democrat and the chairman of the House Liquor Control Committee, announced that legislators will hold at least one hearing on privatization this summer. "Let's put it out there and see what kind of response we get," he said.

A decent response, however, would require several hearings, and the House committee and its Senate counterpart should commit to sponsoring more than a single joint meeting. Otherwise, it will be a feeble gesture to give the appearance of doing something while actually doing nothing to change the status quo. As it is, Pennsylvanians can only wonder if the desire to act is genuine when SB 1273 has only half a dozen sponsors.

For the moment, the Liquor Control Board is not going away, but neither are its critics. These small signs of change are proof that the world can't be made to stand still, even in Pennsylvania.