Op Ed: Lottery another high for spending addicted legislators
By Brian Irving, LPNC Press Secretary
North Carolina legislators have found the latest fix for their
addiction. Like other addicts, they didn't earn the money to pay for the
fix; they took it from others, North Carolina taxpayers.
The truth is the lottery has nothing to do with funding education. It
has everything to do with the General Assembly's addiction to spending. If
the legislators wanted to spend more money on education, they could do so
within the existing budget. They simply need to reorder their priorities.
The truth is legislators do not have the will or desire to do it. Like
most addicts, they can't kick their habit. They don't even try, because
it's so easy to feed it.
The truth is state government has no business running a gambling
business. It has no business running liquor stores - or any other business
for that matter - but that's another issue.
The truth is government not only has no business being in business,
it's incapable of running a business effectively and efficiently. The
lottery bill proves legislators are poor businessmen. It limits the
business "products" to only certain games, restricts the marketing and
allocates only a third of the "profits" to the cause the lottery's
supposed to finance.
The truth is government has no right to engage in a practice it
prohibits to individuals. If it's illegal for a person to run any form of
gambling operation in their business, the state shouldn't be allowed to
run a gambling game either.
The truth is we can't trust our legislators to spend lottery proceeds
on education any more than we can trust them to spend money raised for the
Highway Trust Fund on highways.
The truth is a state lottery is just any expansion of state power over
personal spending habits and therefore an expansion of state power over
our lives.
The truth is a state lottery is just another excuse for the state to
strengthen the near-stranglehold it has on the education of our children.
The truth is if the General Assembly wanted to really do something "for
the children" and help education, they'd give parents more choices for
their child's education and make it easier for them to pay for schooling.
They'd expand the number of charter schools, provide tax credits, start a
voucher program and lower the tax burden on parents.
The truth is no taxpayer should be forced to set up or subsidize an
activity they believe is immoral. It's especially odious for legislators
to force people to pay for such a program while claiming it's "for the
children."
Lottery advocates cry that "our money" is going to South Carolina,
Virginia and other states for their lotteries. That, perhaps, is the most
outrageous lie lottery supporters have tried to perpetuate.
First of all, it's not their money. It's the people's money. But to say
"our money" is going to other states for gambling is like saying our money
is going to Florida to buy oranges, or to Korea to buy shoes, or to
Thailand to buy computer memory. Should the state then start growing
oranges, making shoes and manufacturing computer chips?
The real solution to state's money problems is for the legislature to
stop spending - not invent new ways to extort more money from the people
for their wasteful schemes.
If Samuel Johnson, the famous English author and lexicographer, were
alive today, he'd probably say update one of his famous sayings and note,
"If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, claiming you're doing
something 'for the children' is the first."
The best thing legislators can do "for the children" is to kick their
spending addiction, cut the state budget, give parents more education
choices and lower the tax burden on us all. That will be difficult as long
as the Democratic-Republican cartel controls our state. But Libertarians
will keep reminding legislators it's possible to kick any habit if you
have the resolve.
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