Massive "March Madness" Crime Wave Hits Our State
To paraphrase an old adage, spring is the time when a young
person's fancy turns to crime. Apparently, older citizens
are not immune to the urge to join them on this crime spree.
As usual, Libertarians statewide questioned whether these
activities constitute real criminal behavior. The
Libertarian Party of North Carolina has declared March to
be "Illegal Gambling Month," in honor of the NCAA
Basketball Tournament. This year's version of the vast
criminal conspiracy began again on Sunday evening, as the
tournament bids were announced.
No one participating in various office tournament pools
across the state thinks they are harming anyone when they
place five or ten dollars on their picks to win in the
tournament. And you know what? They're right.
Attorney General Mike Easley said in 1998, "of the 7.2
million people in North Carolina, 2,144,716 were involved
in pools." Easley also reminded people that gambling is
illegal. This means the state government considers almost
one third of its residents to be criminals, despite the
peaceful nature of their actions.
"Whether the General Assembly can raise the money to build
jails for all these criminals without a conscience remains
to be seen," said Libertarian State Chair Sean Haugh.
"Perhaps they could fund it with a lottery."
The simple fact is that people are going to indulge this
annual habit, and no one cares that their activity is
against the law. And yet, who is harmed by it?
"Only the Libertarian Party maintains that citizens have a
right to engage in any peaceful activity without state
interference," said Haugh. "NCAA pools are high in
entertainment value, and they haven't wrecked a single
family. In honor of this massive and spontaneous act of
civil disobedience, we proudly declare March to be the
official ‘Illegal Gambling Month' in NC."
Easley admitted in the 1998 interview that state government
has no hope to stop this crime wave. He said his office
might pay attention to the situation only "if there is
serious money involved."
Haugh thanked Easley for looking the other way, but
suggested it would be better to repeal the laws that
regulate gambling. "Just think, if they went after
peaceful gambling the way they go after other victimless
crimes, we'd have tourney pool turf wars, tourney pool
drive-by shootings, open-air tourney pools on our streets,
and another third of our young black men would be in jail
instead of with their families."
"Whatever pool you enter," concluded Haugh, "beware the
Ides of March."
|
