Congress Scares Me

I'm probably not the only one who tends to have positions on bills just from reading a one-sentence summary.

Sen. Goodlatte's Internet gambling prohibition bill was no exception. Of course, I am against it. Only because I am involved in the business did I follow it carefully, and that is the scary part.

There are many issues that are far greater than playing poker online that are involved here.

If I were a good Republican (perish the thought), I would assume the best about the periphery of the bill, because in his own words, Goodlatte has said: "Republicans get it when it comes to high-tech issues." The top goal, he added, is "to get government out of the way."

That is exactly what his bill does not do. Let's look at a few specifics:

Banning online gambling – It bans linking to sites that have online gambling.

Financial institution involvement – It wants banks knowing where you transfer funds, which enables and requires them to know intimately your exact buying habits.

Enforcement – To comply, the government is requiring financial institutions, credit card companies, and Internet service providers to bear the cost of being the watchdogs and tracking the suspects.

Some people (not too many readers of Card Player) are totally against online gambling, believe their own moral causes should trump those of others, and are oblivious to adult personal choice issues regarding what one may do with one's own time and money. Those people would tend to support this potential legislation without reading a thing.

I wonder how many of them would support this bill if they knew how intrusive the proposed government intervention would be.

I wonder how many times I have supported issues because of a one-sentence description, when upon further analysis I would find that the cure is worse than the sickness.