Students from Oakwood College and members of the National Association to Prevent Starvation protest the lottery in Huntsville recently calling it a “regressive tax.”
It is almost incomprehensible that people have reached such a sorry low point stage in the United States of America. How it is possible that anyone in the State of Alabama would like to associate a lottery with education funding is a mystery that only the Mafia, thugs, and thieves could possibly understand.
If there is an argument to be made for the support of the lottery, it could only possibly be based on the idea that it would slow the loss of revenue to other states such as Georgia who already have a lottery. It has been reported that large sums of money flow across the border into the venerable state of Georgia. The way it’s been presented you might think that the Alabama Georgia border could be compared with that of Mexico and the United States where customs agents constantly see large sums of money and drugs flowing through to illegal coffers later to be laundered in … New York City banks. A fitting analogy for a vice that has a long history as being as addictive as a potent narcotic.
If it is that bad, which is very questionable, then the argument is lost on the basis of the reality that the lotto really is all that bad for the people of the state. If it isn’t all that bad, then why do we need it at all? It IS a proven fact that a lot of unsavory dealings come with organized gambling including drugs, alcohol, prostitution and the like.
Tying it in to education funding, however, is just about the most immoral, unethical and low down demagogic political act to come down the pike in a very long while. It would be easy to call it a cowards way out. It isn’t. It’s a thugs way out. I can well imagine my high schools days. There it can all be, legally: “Hey, buddy, how about some spare change so’s I can play the slot?” Just sell lottery tickets and put slot machines in there next to the lunch line. And then… “Hey baby, wanna make a few bucks really quick for a little…” Meanwhile in the bathroom, “Hey, how about sharing some of those pills?” That’s how it starts out, and that’s how it’ll essentially end.
Using education as an excuse to bring a lotto to Alabama sends the wrong message. There are many “adult” activities that are legal for legal aged adults. And that’s the way it ought to be. The problem is that using the lotto as a crutch for education removes an important step of caution in the process of growing and maturing to adulthood for a younger generation. The two oughten to be associated. Public education, and the lottery don’t mix!
If you’re an Alabamian be sure to go to the polls tomorrow and vote NO! to the lotto!
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©1999, 2014 – Jim Casey
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REVISED 1999.10.13
REPUBLISHED 2014.12.07
