It might be a gamble, but I'm willin' to take it...
...so, tomorrow I get to take part in yet another small stakes local poker tournament. Set up just like the ones last year, it's a no-limit hold'em tournament with a $40 buy-in and a $20 rebuy. Hopefully I do better than I did the last couple of times, maybe even make the money (which usually is the top 5 or 6). So I should have some fun.
And believe me, when it comes to gambling in the state of Ohio, fun comes few and far between.
That, of course, is because Columbus and Cincinnati are paralyzingly afraid of casinos, and thus deny Cleveland the chance to get at least one, and Toledo to stem the flow of money from there to Detroit. Cincinnati is so prudish that they don't mind the exodus of their dollars to Indiana. And, of course, the Ohio house just tightened up the strings so that no establishment can have "games of chance" other than the lottery and horse racing. Because, you know, poor people aren't getting ripped off by buying tickets and going to the track. Argument 1 against down...argument 2:
"It's a sin according to the Bible."
Yes, they whip out religion on you. It is my belief that in America, a land of freedom of religion and freedom from religion (codified that you can't make laws establishing or denying religion), if you use religion to make a political argument, you have lost that argument. It's just like comparing someone to Hitler: If you attempt to make religion part of politics, you are not qualified for politics. Much like marriage amendments: "Homosexuality is an abomination unto the Lord (TM), so they shouldn't get all the legal protections of marriage!" Sorry. Loss. Fail. If marriage were purely the purview of the church, synagogue, mosque, etc., it would be a different story. As it is, marriage is legally defined. Therefore, the argument that marriage is one man, one woman because the Bible says so is a slam-dunk violation of the First Amendment. You've got to come with something not rooted in religion if you want to make the argument.
However, even though both arguments are wrong...it doesn't make them any less popular. And thus, casino amendments have been on the state ballots twice...and been shot down. One of those amendments was to leave the choice of casinos to the local governments. Which I absolutely support. Casinos are one of the few things that need to be more localized. A casino opening in Toledo doesn't affect Cincinnati very much. So why should Cincinnati have a say on whether Toledo gets a casino or not? The only people who should have that decision are the citizens of Toledo for a Toledo casino. In this case, the more localized it is, the better. In other cases, especially health care, the broader it is, the better. Someone uninsured getting sick and running up a tens of thousands of dollar hospital bill in Toledo affects everyone in the state, insured or uninsured. By making sure everyone has a baseline healthcare system, the blow is softened. Healthcare is what the federal government was designed to give. Casinos are what the Ninth and Tenth amendments are designed to keep the bigger governments from destroying. The more local, the better here.
But those are just my little raves and rants for today. At least tomorrow I get to rave and rant about football...
And believe me, when it comes to gambling in the state of Ohio, fun comes few and far between.
That, of course, is because Columbus and Cincinnati are paralyzingly afraid of casinos, and thus deny Cleveland the chance to get at least one, and Toledo to stem the flow of money from there to Detroit. Cincinnati is so prudish that they don't mind the exodus of their dollars to Indiana. And, of course, the Ohio house just tightened up the strings so that no establishment can have "games of chance" other than the lottery and horse racing. Because, you know, poor people aren't getting ripped off by buying tickets and going to the track. Argument 1 against down...argument 2:
"It's a sin according to the Bible."
Yes, they whip out religion on you. It is my belief that in America, a land of freedom of religion and freedom from religion (codified that you can't make laws establishing or denying religion), if you use religion to make a political argument, you have lost that argument. It's just like comparing someone to Hitler: If you attempt to make religion part of politics, you are not qualified for politics. Much like marriage amendments: "Homosexuality is an abomination unto the Lord (TM), so they shouldn't get all the legal protections of marriage!" Sorry. Loss. Fail. If marriage were purely the purview of the church, synagogue, mosque, etc., it would be a different story. As it is, marriage is legally defined. Therefore, the argument that marriage is one man, one woman because the Bible says so is a slam-dunk violation of the First Amendment. You've got to come with something not rooted in religion if you want to make the argument.
However, even though both arguments are wrong...it doesn't make them any less popular. And thus, casino amendments have been on the state ballots twice...and been shot down. One of those amendments was to leave the choice of casinos to the local governments. Which I absolutely support. Casinos are one of the few things that need to be more localized. A casino opening in Toledo doesn't affect Cincinnati very much. So why should Cincinnati have a say on whether Toledo gets a casino or not? The only people who should have that decision are the citizens of Toledo for a Toledo casino. In this case, the more localized it is, the better. In other cases, especially health care, the broader it is, the better. Someone uninsured getting sick and running up a tens of thousands of dollar hospital bill in Toledo affects everyone in the state, insured or uninsured. By making sure everyone has a baseline healthcare system, the blow is softened. Healthcare is what the federal government was designed to give. Casinos are what the Ninth and Tenth amendments are designed to keep the bigger governments from destroying. The more local, the better here.
But those are just my little raves and rants for today. At least tomorrow I get to rave and rant about football...