Sen. Olympia Snowe’s ceding of the United States Senate seat she was virtually certain of retaining in this November’s election is just the latest evidence of the toxic political partisanship that is hamstringing America’s government at the federal, state and local levels.
The lack of civility and cooperation in Congress and the depressing likelihood it won’t change for the better anytime soon were major factors in the three-term Republican’s decision. And though it’s hard to figure how the retirement of one of the upper house’s nominal moderates will help the current state of affairs, it’s easy to see why someone in her position is discouraged.
Like Virginia’s Jim Webb, Utah’s Bob Bennett, Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, Connecticut’s Joseph Lieberman, Arkansas’s Blanche Lincoln, Vermont’s Jim Jeffords, Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee, Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter and Indiana’s Evan Bayh before her, Snowe will be leaving the Senate amidst complaints over her unwillingness to toe her party’s line consistently enough for a supposed “base” that gets its marching orders from the increasingly inflammatory, fact-challenged appeals to intolerance, suspicion and small-mindedness by shrill talking heads, incendiary print “journalists,” and other would-be demagogues more interested in advancing their own personal agenda than they are in actually helping their fellow Americans.
Given the nation’s current dissatisfaction with government in general and Congress in particular, it’s essential for elected officials of all persuasions to collaborate on something constructive sooner rather than later. But is there an issue squishy liberals and rock-ribbed conservatives can agree upon?
Perhaps that elusive common ground concerns certain “taxes.” Die-hard rightists detest virtually all of them; the left decries with equal ferocity those that negatively impact already disadvantaged segments of the population. For example, a flat sales tax of 5 percent is far harder on families earning less than $30,000 annually than it is on people with six-figure incomes.
One particularly regressive assessment that’s paid by far too many Americans ought to be furiously opposed by every angry and/or righteous activist from all corners of the political spectrum, yet it is not. Perhaps that’s because it is, paradoxically enough, entirely voluntary.
According to the Maine State Lottery’s website, there are six different drawings available to folks wishing to pay for an infinitesimal chance to strike it rich. The Maine Mega Millions’ biggest cash prize starts at $12 million, but the chances of winning it are startlingly small: One in 175,711,536. Those wanting more bang for their two bucks might prefer to play Powerball; that game’s grand prize now starts at $40 million, with the odds of winning it a mere one in 175,223,510. Those are still long, but eight-digit jackpots have a way of making eager ticket-buyers ignore little things like probability.
There’s a slightly greater likelihood of winning the Tri-State Megabucks jackpot: The odds are one in 4,496,388, although its top prize starts at a paltry million dollars. Smaller spenders can purchase Hot Lotto tickets for a mere eight bits (or a dollar, for those who are out of bits) per play. And taking a crack at the Daily Numbers costs only 50 cents. Selecting the correct three wins a bettor $250 in the “Pick Three” drawing; getting the right quartet in “Pick Four” yields $2,500. And in those two games players have twice the chances to win, since there are two drawings per day!
The Lottery’s website correctly states that “you can’t win if you don’t play,” but fails to point out that a 500-to-1 payoff in a game where the odds of winning are clearly 1,000-to-1 (or a $5,000 payoff on 10,000-to-1 odds for Pick Four) isn’t particularly sporting.
Mainers preferring a chance at more instant gratification can buy scratch tickets for $1, $2, $3, $5, $10 or $20, and while the odds of collecting a cash prize are better than those of winning Powerball, they still overwhelmingly favor the house.
To be fair, there are multiple spots on the lottery’s website which urge consumers to, “Keep it fun. Play responsibly.” But playing the lottery responsibly is the equivalent of smoking a pack of unfiltered Camels safely.
Let’s call throwing away money on lotteries and casino gambling what it truly is: A Voluntary Stupidity Tax.
Liberals fervently hate regressive assessments; the right loathes all taxes. Creating legislation which hinders the ability of already-wealthy parasites to legally separate Americans from their hard-earned money (and which educates the masses on the odds of actually winning sizable jackpots in “games of chance”) ought to be one cause tea partiers and tree huggers alike embrace with equal zest.
When it comes to preventing casino operators and lottery purveyors from legally keeping Americans in the poorhouse, severe conservatives like the Koch Brothers, Grover Norquist, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner ought to be on the same side as Warren Buffett, Michael Moore, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and their comparatively progressive allies.
— Andy Young is doing his small part to fight regressive taxation; since the dawn of the 21st century he hasn’t visited a casino, nor has he bought a single lottery ticket.
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