Online Casino Ban Back in Republican Platform, Freedom Secondary
Yesterday's triumphant victory for freedom of choice and online gambling fans became a slap in the face today, as the Republican Party reinstituted language into its platform condemning Internet wagering and calling for its abolishment.
Online poker players and other gamblers had written on the party's platform website, letting party officials know that many true Republicans valued their personal freedom and considered online casino bans to be a violation of that freedom. The grass-roots movement, organized by the Poker Players Alliance, generated such an overwhelmingly one-sided response that the offending paragraph was deleted from the platform yesterday.
But today, those words are reinstated. Social conservative groups, wielding far more power than their numbers deserve, demanded that the will of the voters be ignored, and the party obeyed.
The language speaks against social ills supposedly caused by gambling, although the statements are unproved and unfounded. As usual, scientific study doesn't work for religious nuts; faith in their beliefs prevents evidence from distracting them.
Now, the Republican Party has painted itself into the worst position possible. Defenders of the party as the representative of small government and personal freedoms are forced to admit control of the organization has largely gone to religious radicals, attempting to impose their standards upon everyone else.
True Republicans will be angered more than if the lines calling for the ban had never been touched, as the party has made a statement with these actions that the individuals no longer matter as much as fringe special interest groups. So be it. If the party wants to see one-issue voting, then that they will, only not in the way they hoped.
As the party has deserted its true ideals to adopt the policies of its most bizarre and radical members, core Republicans will be faced with a tough choice come November: Barack Obama or Bob Barr.
Anyone wishing to express their dismay to the party should go here.
