It is Monday. And it is hard to get into the posting mood. However, here are a couple of items this morning. First a quick look at Saban and the lottery followed by a quick update on Croyle and the Chiefs.
Last week Nick Saban spoke in favor of a lottery. There was chatter about the political plea, but it didn’t receive the same type of response a politician would receive. When a politician promotes the lottery, we tend to see it for what it is—a power grab. When a politician wants a lottery, they want to increase the amount of money they get to play with in Montgomery. It’s as simple as that. Politicians promote things which promote their power.
But what was Saban’s motivation? He told the media it would help fund scholarships for spring sports, thus helping the football program.
If it helps the football team, then most fans want it. Right? Right?
While football is important in this state, does anyone think the public puts aside its core beliefs just for the sake of winning?
Well, there was the Mike Dubose situation. But I think football fans learned a lesson from that. You can’t sacrifice core beliefs to win at football.
While Saban has the popularity and public attention of a pope and not a politician, a plea for a lottery will fall on deaf ears.
Why? Because it will be controlled by politicians. Voters in this state do not trust politicians.
Secondly, a strong plurality of voters see the negative consequences of gambling on the young and poor. For those who haven’t considered it, gambling is the worst form of regressive taxation—it is a tax on stupidity or ignorance. The rich people in Mountain Brook or the college graduates working their big time jobs aren’t the ones buying lottery tickets. It is the poor folks hopelessly lost in a cycle of poverty who take money from their own pockets to fund the educations of the middle class.
It is a repugnant cycle, oppressing the poorest of the poor.
Interestingly, a site dedicated to gambling covered the Saban remarks. EOG.com examines how some dislike gambling, but will support it if it means more money for pet projects: In our mentally conflicted national mindset we have millions who don’t like gambling, but will gladly accept the spoils if given the opportunity.  Saban would surely be one of the first to talk about the ills of gambling for young people, especially his athletes. However if someone else does it and it means more money to his benefit then he is by all means for it. When as a country will we cleanly reconcile this sort of hypocrisy?
EOG.com has a great question. It is hypocrisy for our politicians who hate our regressive tax system, but then impose a worse form on the poorest of the poor.
Tailback update:
Grant muscles way into lead at tailback
Brodie Croyle Update:
Croyle took snaps during the Chiefs preseason play. Here’s more about the game:
7 thoughts on “Lottery hypocrisy; Croyle update”
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Speaking of hypocrisy… If you do not like people who are willing to put their ‘core beliefs’ ahead of winning, then are you going accept the revenue you will receive for the Google Ad I just clicked at the bottom of this page (“Find Out the Hidden Secrets Behind Lucky Lottery Numbers!”)?
I am a regular reader, and I love the site, but I could not disagree with you more on this. I am a middle class, college graduate, and I buy lottery tickets. I have never met anyone who buys a ticket (rich or poor), who actually believes that they are going to win. Nobody blows their savings on a lottery ticket… Now slot machines, are a different story, but lottery tickets!?! I don’t buy it (no pun).
Funny thing is I’ve gambled twice in my life. Once when the B’ham Race course ran horses and once again in the Georgia Lottery. I won both times. (I didn’t win much, but betting $2 to win $100 is kind of cool.)
I don’t have a problem with gambling per se. I have a problem with state sponsored gambling. In most cases, the state markets gambling toward persons with low levels of education. In the end, that just rubs me the wrong way.
I will say I understand the argument about keeping the money here in Alabama. I have family members who go to Mississippi now that they are retired more than they stay home here in Alabama! 😉
I gotta disagree on the lottery thing. Me and the wife are planning on moving to Georgia in a few years so our children can go to college for free. College is becoming way too expensive for a middle class couple like us to afford.
Well done. I’m no moralist, and am a big believer in personal choice, there’s reams of data that back up the assertion that lotteries are a tax on people with bad math skills. People have the right to throw their money away, but many who do are the same who need assistance from government programs.
Please. I have no problem taking money from the so called poor. If anything, it is like getting my tax dollars back.
Characterizing a lottery as a “tax” is inaccurate. A tax is compulsory, purchasing a lottery ticket is voluntary. I dare say that many people who assert the “tax” analogy would not want their own spending habits scrutinized by others. I feel we all sometimes spend money on things that probably fail to yield any return, tangible or intangible. However, that money was spent voluntarily, and if a “wasted” dollar somehow benefits society, then maybe it wasn’t wasted after all. Give people the freedom to make their own choices and do not characterize a “choice” as a forced payment of money, i.e. tax.