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Gambling with Hope
There is no popular enterprise more in synch with modern
liberalism than state (and now multi-State) lottery systems. The
primary thrust of the modern governmental enterprise consists of
finding new, creative and politically viable ways to increase the
flow of revenue into government coffers, from whence it will be
duly distributed to friends and allies of the liberal
establishment. Lotteries represented a breakthrough in this
regard. Once we were able to break out of the strictures of
outmoded Victorian morality, government sponsored gambling became
the perfect fit for 1990s liberalism. Here is how the liberal
worldview perceives it:
- Gambling is a voluntary tax. Although some wit has dubbed
lotteries a tax levied on the statistically ignorant, it
is in fact "voluntary". No one is forced to
play Powerball, and nobody will be thrown in the clink
for failure to purchase scratch tickets. In fact, many
people seem to positively enjoy it. You can even deduct
your "gambling losses" on your income tax.
After years of confrontational bruising caused by forcing
traditional taxation down the throats of the middle class,
this was a breath of fresh (lucrative) air, a true shot
in the arm for liberalism, a draught of mead for the
parched statist throat. Rather than wresting money from
reluctant hands, the citizens now throw their money at
you!
- Participants have at least a chance of winning something.
This is again true. The odds of wining run from the
ridiculous (Powerball Jackpot odds are something in the 1:80,000,000
range) to the merely unlikely, but the fact is that
someone does win. Only part of the money raised by
lottery sales is skimmed off. The ads are right, it COULD
be you who wins. On the other hand, most of the winning
tickets are in the $10 and less range. The money mavens
at the lotteries know full well that most of the small
money winning are immediately reinvested by the winners
hoping to hit the big prize.
- The proceeds tend to benefit visible, popular and
politically correct causes. Education, the environment
and, of course, the children are at the top of the list.
What kind of cruel, insensitive lout could protest a
program that brings so many needed services to so many
needful areas?
It's voluntary, it pays back, and it benefits cute and fuzzy
things. Who on earth could argue with it? Heh, heh.
Let us start by clearly defining the issues. I am not opposed
to legalized gambling. It can be a pernicious social force, but I
think it is exactly the sort of thing that government ought to
allow adults to do. On the other hand there is a huge difference
between legalized gambling, and the state taking over the role of
bookie, between the state PERMITTING gambling and the state
running a numbers racket. The problems I find with state gambling
enterprises include:
- Taxation is only half the problem.
Spending is the other half. By finding a politically pain
free way to increase revenues and fuel more spending, the
state will continue to grow in size, power and influence
over the lives of its citizens. It does this while
bypassing whatever controls exist in the tax and spend
structure. Frivolous use of taxpayer money is more keenly
felt as an affront by the citizen. Lottery money on the
other hand is in essence "free money", and I
don't think anyone is paying a whole lot of attention to
how it is being spent.
- It is regressive. Next time you are in a
convenience store, take a look at the line for the
lottery. See any nattily attired lawyers? Maybe doctors?
Business executives? Nope. Nary a one. What you will see
are the poor, the elderly, and the blue collar worker.
Lotteries do not peddle fun or amusement. They peddle
hope. Those for whom money is not a concern scoff at the
silly odds and do not play. It is those who feel stuck,
trapped, poor, they are the ones who play. The result is
a stream of income to the government from the lower
classes. Money that is used for a variety of middle and
upper class pet projects. It is a deliberate, and
successful, effort to give the middle class what they say
they want while avoiding making them pay for it. More
proof that the liberals' loud proclamations of concern
for the poor are now nothing more than empty demagoguery.
The poor are no longer their constituents. Leftist
special interest group are.
- It sets a very bad precedent. The logic
of the lottery is so intoxicating that it cannot be
contained. The most recent example is the tobacco
lawsuits and settlements, wherein money is being siphoned,
again, out of the pockets of overwhelmingly lower class
smokers and passed through to state governments, trial
lawyers and the public health bureaucracy. This, of
course, is also a "voluntary" tax: If you don't
like it, don't smoke. We are entering a period in which
politicians, having learned the lessons of the '80s, are
too timid to raise taxes directly. Yet the share of GNP
going to the government is at an all time peacetime high.
Look for an ongoing effort to find new and creative ways
to slap voluntary taxes on groups with little political
clout and addictive habits.
Faced as we are with myriad serious issue, it is tempting to
wave off concern about state gambling. Well, call me old
fashioned, but I think that cynically manipulating the hopes and
fears of the lower classes in order to get cheap and easy cash is
serious stuff. As soon as I corral the other person in America
who agrees, off to battle we go. \par\pard}
