Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Future of Floating Casinos Afloat
A New York Times article, referenced in the Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com), states that Mississippi state Legislature “opened a special session Tuesday devoted to how and whether to salvage an industry that has been central to the economy of the Gulf Coast.” All the employees who earned the money to buy food, keep a roof over their heads, clothe themselves and their children, etc., will once again be able to do so if the Legislature votes to allow rebuilding of the casinos that floated on the water “to keep them physically separate from nearby communities.” Sounds good, but…
Religious leaders, opposed to gambling in the name of forcing people to live life in the way those religious leaders see as “right,” are up in arms.
WARNING: Lecture on choices starts here.
As someone who is adamant that we are each responsible for ourselves and should, therefore, take the consequences – good or bad – for the choices we make, I see the position of the religious leaders as tantamount to stripping away such responsibility and replacing it with blind obedience. Not even a child should be treated this way, let alone adults.
Children are taught by their parents and teachers about the world around them and how to navigate safely through it. As they grow, they get to make more and more decisions for themselves. If parents and teachers have done a good job and if the children have learned well, the decisions will be good ones with good consequences.
Bad decisions are often made, though, for the most part simply because of human error or not knowing all of the facts. Sometimes bad decisions are made because of bad epistemology or bad premises. As long as the person making those bad decisions accepts the consequences (including responsibility for the impact of those decisions on others), he/she should be free to make them.
Gambling is a choice. Deciding to gamble is not either good or bad. It can be a poor decision or not, but more context is needed to determine that. For example, how much does the gambler earn per year and how much of that does he/she gamble away? Martha Stewart, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or Sir Richard Branson could gamble millions in a casino, lose it all, and still have enough to meet their basic needs. Someone serving up coffee at Starbucks or bagging your groceries at the local supermarket who lays his/her week’s pay down on a roll of the dice and loses will be in dire straights.
The risk taken on that roll of the dice, a game of cards, a spin of the roulette wheel, a pull of the slot machine arm, or spending every penny you have on lottery tickets has to be carefully weighed. Unless you can really afford to lose the money you’re laying down and not have to impose on others to make up your loss, don’t lay it down.
LECTURE ON CHOICES OVER. Now, back to whether or not Mississippi should allow the gambling industry to rebuild there.
Here’s my two-cents’ worth: Mississippi should not be regulating business. The free market does that all by itself very well. Therefore, the matter should not even be before the state Legislature. However, since it is, let the voters decide. After all, they are the ones that the state Legislature is serving. It’s their state and their livelihood. To them, I say, “Ball’s in your court.” As for the religious leaders, they can have their say (free speech). They should not, however, drown out the voices of the voters. They should make their pitch and step aside to let the voters decide.
Copyright © 2005 A.C. Cargill
