Halter Pressing His Luck on Lottery

"Lt. Gov. Bill Halter challenged a House committee Wednesday to allow voters to decide on establishing a state lottery, whether or not the lawmakers opposed the idea. “What are you afraid of ?” Halter asked..."".

Sheesh! Talk about needing to brush up on how to win friends and influence people. There are lots of reasons not to forward the lotto amendment (besides a legislator's personal distaste for Lt. Governor Halter's demeanor in committee). The article by Laura Kellams is worth a read. It points out that the ledge can only refer three issues to the ballot. There might be more worthy ones to send up, after all the people have voted down gambling amendments before, and legislators have plenty of good proposals lined up for the three slots. Do we get to "choose again" until we come up with the answer the gambling interests want?

I refer you to an earlier article which explains why a lottery is an even less moral choice than prostitution. Perhaps someone will say the state should get into that business next in order to avoid "loosing revenue".

U of A Chancellor John White is focused on the amount of college scholarship money which could be funded with a lottery. Well and good, but teachers on the other end have to deal with parents who have lost the rent money gambling, and this will only make that worse. State sanction on gambling will only break down people's resistance to corrupting influences. It also adds to the wrong lessons our society teaches- that wealth is not won through hard and patience work serving others better than the next person, but through chance and luck or winning a lawsuit or being a rap "star". Enough of such false lessons, says the Watchblogger. A lottery is intrinsically anti-educational in this sense.