Barney Frank Online Gambling Bill May Reveal Republican Future
The Presidential election this past fall revealed a rift between the two main components of the Republican Party, and the response to a Democratic bill legalizing online gambling may indicate which branch will control the Party's future. Barney Frank announced yesterday that he will seek to repeal the UIGEA within the next month, a move sure to irritate evangelistic Republicans.
However, Republicans of the conservative libertarian stripe are far more friendly to gambling and Internet freedom than their counterparts. Alfonse D'Amato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, is a Republican ex-Senator.
Pete Sessions, a Republican Representative, introduced legislation to limit the UIGEA. Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the American Gaming Association, was chairman of the Republican Party. Conservative think-tanks have pushed for the freedom to play at online casinos. And John McCain has led the fight to bring Native Americans out of poverty by using tribal casinos, when not playing craps himself.
The two sides of the Party have been infighting since the McCain nomination made clear the differences between them. The Christian far right pushes to enforce its morality upon others, dictating lifestyles and advocating censorship and thought control through such leaders as Spencer Bachus. Scare tactics are used to draw emotional responses to issues.
Meanwhile, the fiscal conservatives among Republicans remain social moderates. Libertarians reject the call to conform, and assert the individual right to freedom from government control, including online gambling.
According to noted political scientist Howard Cantrell, when Frank's bill comes to a vote, a rejection along Party lines may mean that the religious conservatives have won control of the Republican agenda. However, a split vote means the moderates are asserting themselves, indicating the ascendance of such practical leaders as Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Charlie Crist of Florida.
Cantrell says, "Online gambling and the regulation of Internet casinos may be a chance for bipartisanship to blossom. If the Republican centrists want to be taken seriously on their resistance to economic issues such as the stimulus package, they need to find causes they can agree with the President on."
