Gamblers, Have You No Shame?

What was supposed to be an anti-gambling rally on the steps of the Statehouse turned into a confrontation when busloads of gambling supporters invaded the space reserved weeks in advance for concerned citizens to register their opposition to gambling in Alabama. The result was a shoving and shouting match that had to be brought to a semblance of order by the Alabama state police.

Still gambling protesters shouted so loud and so long that it was practically impossible for Gov. Bob Riley to be heard when he addressed the hundreds of people who journeyed to Montgomery to speak out against legalizing slot machine-type gambling in the state.

The invasion was a deliberate act; the rudeness purposeful. Now that the state Supreme Court has ruled against them, the gamblers seem willing to resort to intimidation to silence their critics. Evidently the gambling crowd will stop at nothing to force its destruction down the throats of Alabama citizens.

One can only ask, “Gamblers, have you no shame? Have you no sense of decency?”

Unfortunately the way the gamblers conducted themselves Feb. 23 is in keeping with their campaign of distortion and untruth as they attempt to expand their hold on the state. In an ad published in The Birmingham News, gamblers compared the Alabama state police to the jackbooted storm troopers of the Nazi regime.

Alabamians should be furious to have these patriotic men and women compared to such an evil.

Again one must ask, “Gamblers, have you no shame, no sense of decency?”

The newspaper ad, like TV ads flooding the state, pulled out all the stops. It sought to paint Riley with the brush of McCarthyism, reckless persecution of those he opposes, and with the violence of Bull Connor, Birmingham’s infamous commissioner of public safety who unleashed fire hoses and dogs on civil rights marchers.

But who is it that is spreading untruths? The gambling ads seek to gain sympathy by talking about legal businesses. The Alabama Supreme Court said otherwise. Ads call threatened raids on the state’s major gambling establishments illegal. Yet the state Supreme Court refused to stop the raids by the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling.

And which group tried to prevent opponents from gathering, from speaking? The gamblers.

Once again, one must ask, “Gamblers, have you no shame, no sense of decency?”

The gambling crowd says the issue of legalized gambling in Alabama can be solved by letting the people vote. It knows better. In April 2009, the citizens of Argo rejected electronic bingo gambling in their city in a nonbinding referendum. Less than two months later, the mayor and town council adopted an ordinance to bring gambling to the town.

Votes by the people settle very little. Residents of California voted against gay “marriage” being legal in that state. The nation watched the battle over Proposition 8. But before the vote could be officially recorded, motions were under way to throw out the results. Now California awaits the results of a recent trial to see if the courts will overturn what the people said.

One Baptist pastor has pointed out that Americans voted for a president in 2008 but that election has done little to silence the critics of the man who won.

If votes by the people settled issues, then Alabama would not be caught up in this fight over gambling today. More than 10 years ago, Alabama had a statewide vote on a legalized lottery and the lottery lost. By definition, bingo gambling is a lottery and not legal in the state.

The goal of the gambling crowd is not “let the people vote.” It is to get another chance to expand gambling in the state. That is a truth the gamblers will not tell you. Once again we ask, “Gamblers, have you no shame, no sense of decency?”

Look at the patently unfair proposal under consideration by the state Legislature. It does not provide an up or down vote on gambling in Alabama. No bill under active consideration seeks to eliminate gambling. The bills all begin with the premise of protecting what exists and expanding slot machine gambling if possible.

If slot machine gambling is legalized, bill sponsors are seeking to make it nearly impossible to reverse.

Gamblers, have you no shame, no sense of decency?

Gamblers even try to hide behind the issue of jobs. Gamblers are always looking for some noble cause with which to deflect attention away from their selfish, immoral activity. Evidently they have no qualms about using vulnerable, hurting people.

And who cannot be concerned about jobs? Economically this is a difficult time for everyone. Concern about jobs is appropriate.

But the fact remains that slot machine-type gambling is illegal in Alabama. That means jobs related to an illegal activity are also illegal. You don’t keep the moonshiner in business because he provides jobs. You do not keep the house of ill repute going so the service providers will not be out of work.

Two hundred years ago, William Wilberforce indicted the government of England because it protected the evil of human slavery in order to provide jobs and profits for the nation. Slavery and gambling cannot be compared, but one must be careful lest the stench of promoting immoral activities in exchange for a few coins to clink together rises once more from the pages of history.

Gamblers, have you no shame, no sense of decency?

Let no state senator or representative tell you he or she is “just going to let the people decide.” The system does not work that way. The recent vote on calling a convention to rewrite the state constitution proves it. Members of the House of Representatives thought the idea ill advised for Alabama and defeated the proposal handily. They were not going to “let the people decide.”

Senators and representatives must believe the idea good for the state before they pass it on for a vote of the people. A statewide vote ratifies what the Legislature has already approved. It is a two-step process. Any state senator or representative who supports the idea of a statewide vote on slot machine-type gambling in Alabama supports gambling. That is the bottom line. To anyone who says differently we ask, “Have you no shame, no sense of decency?”