Frank Uses Internet Casino Debate to Remind US What Freedom Is
Barney Frank and Spencer Bachus were asked by US News and World Report to state their opposing cases for the legalization of online casinos. Each gave a written statement reviewing much of what we've already heard from both men, with the added element from Frank of an expansion of the case for personal freedom.Most telling in the two statements is a part of Frank's review of the reasons to regulate online gambling in which he uses an unnamed colleague to prove his point. The anonymous Congressman, by Frank's own words one that he admired highly among his co-workers, thought the UIGEA ban was alright because Internet gambling didn't really contribute to the GNP.
"The notion that individual choices and personal freedom have to be justified on the grounds that they contribute to the gross domestic product is of course a serious threat to individual liberty," says Frank.
"The notion that human activity should be divided between those things that are illegal and those things that the government should be considered to be encouraging is a dire threat to liberty," Frank continued. " The vast majority of human activities should be neither encouraged nor outlawed by the government but rather be left entirely to the choice of free individuals."
While the issue of personal choice has always been prominent in the debate for legalizing online gaming, OCA gambling analyst Sherman Bradley says Frank has taken the argument to the point at which Congressmen will have to ask themselves hard philosophical questions.
"It will be tough to vote against allowing US citizens their freedom to choose to gamble on the Internet without appearing against the most revered of US political beliefs," Bradley noted. " Congressman Frank has done a marvelous job of framing this argument very clearly for the public."
