It makes me sick at my stomach whenever I'm in line in a store behind someone who uses food stamps and/or WIC checks and also purchases lottery tickets. People who are on public assistance of that sort, along with those who live in publicly subsidized housing, should not be allowed to buy lottery tickets.
If they can't get by without help from their fellow citizens (since that's what the ‘government' really is), they can't afford such luxuries. Besides, many of them spend so much of their money on that kind of stuff that it often comes at the expense of the necessities of life for themselves and their families. And doesn't that defeat the whole point of public assistance?
But how could a rule like that be enforced? Very simply. Each state's lottery department would issue a lottery permit to each of its citizens of majority age (18 or over). This permit would bear the person's name, legal address, and some kind of identifying number. It would have to presented to a clerk (or whomever) in order to purchase lottery tickets. When one goes on the public dole, he or she would have to relinquish that permit. Once any of those people got back on their feet again, it would be returned to them.
Before you try to claim that this would be some kind of breach of the Constitution, keep in mind that buying lottery tickets is like driving – it's a privilege, not a right. State and local municipalities have a right to determine, in the best interest of society, who gets what privileges and who doesn't. Placing a restriction on who can buy lottery tickets would be a step in the right direction for modern civilization.
Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Virginia, USA. He posts a least one article a day to his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - on subjects such as current events, politics, technology, society and culture, religion, health and well-being, self improvement, personal finance, trivia, and sports.
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» left by Dianne Lehmann from Dewey, AZ (103 days 23 hours ago.)
Hi Terry.
Actually, that's not a bad idea, but I don't really see it happening. No more than I see the government disallowing the sale of tobacco products or alcohol to those folks living with the government's help. Even if they did, it could very well just be a vicious circle: on welfare = no lottery tickets, alcohol or tobacco > saving money = getting off welfare > ability to again purchase lottery tickets, alcohol and tobacco = going into debt > going back on welfare. Extreme example, I know, but we are a species notorious for creating problems for ourselves.
Thanks for an interesting article. There is a lot to think about in it.
Dianne, you always seem to be able to come up with an interesting twist. :-) Thanks for being a regular reader and commentator (or should that be commenter?).
» left by Ken McCreless from Event Horizon (103 days 15 hours ago.)
Very good article, Terry, not to mention Diannes comment!
I believe it boils down to one word- entitlement. It seems so many people see themselves as having "earned" government money, while others who earn money give it to the government.
But I do like your idea. Too bad our government is such a bufoon-esque enterprise, or we would have something like that in place already.
Hi Terry, This was a timely article for me because I was just discussing this with one of VP Biden's assistants.
My complaint has been that as I peruse online news articles I often find jackpot lottery/ slot machine winners pictured in the news, and when interviewed it comes to light that they are often on welfare/disability etc. I live in Delaware, where we have RACINOS (racetrack/casinos) we also have Powerball and other lottery tempatations.
Now, I'm a blue collar worker living in a white-collar world (expensive resort community for Washingtonions). It burns me up to see the "assisted" people claiming disability so that they can live off my income tax, but they can make the trip to the casinos and sit for 6 hrs a day smoking cigarettes and usually lose it all anyway. These people, by the way, are the same people that need to drag around oxygen tanks at the expense of the taxpayer to help treat their emphysema and lung cancer, money also coming out of my pocket! I understand that a portion of what they lose gets put back into the general fund for the state, but why not eliminate the middle man! Don't get me started on the ones that win...they typically continue to gamble their government assistance away as well.
In Delaware, we also have welfare credit cards, which I think is a great idea, however the system that is in place does not prevent the money from being spent on lottery, cigarettes etc...
Look, I'm not against the lottery...it provides a little hope and sunshine in a construction workers day as well an income generator for the state. I am NOT a fan of casinos that are built in areas intended to draw a lower income class.
I consider myself a middle of the road republican and I agree that public assistance is required in some situations, however the self-policing of the welfare system does not work. I used to work in the City of Wilmington (you know,the place where your credit card bank is incorporated ; ) and on my way to work I drove through a few "bad" neighborhoods at 7:30AM....not a soul to be seen except the garbage collectors. By the time I got back into those same neighborhoods at 4:00 pm, the porches and steps were covered with 20 year olds in bathrobes and curlers with a small gaggle of toddlers running about with little supervision. I'm paying for those people to stay home and sleep while I work at a job I can barely afford to drive to?
While buying my canned tunafish at the local supermarket, I stood in line behind a presumably single female with 4 kids. She was using her foodstamps to buy orange-ade (not juice), chips and a variety of snack foods and frozen meals that looked like they were made from playdough. The only items she had with any nutritional value was a 20.00 steak and 4 whole lobsters! Man, how can I get on that list?
Sorry for the rant-back, but you touched a nerve. I applaud you for asking meaningful questions. I am doing research and working on a bill for our State Legislature to "work" in the next few years...I encourage you to do something similar! Good luck taxpayer!
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