I'm not a gambler and I think my gambling addict friends are a little weird when they sit around and play 5 online tournaments at the same time. However, I think it is a complete waste of government time and money to shut down all the online poker sites in the U.S. and seize everyones money. I'm not sure why the government hasn't figured out that you can't legislate morality, but people are going to gamble regardless, and trying to stop them is a fruitless waste of money. How are my friends supposed to live without that annoying sound the computer makes when they shuffle the cards?
While we are at it, I'm going to make the case we should legalize most drugs and prostitution as well. People have been smoking rock, paying for yamming action, and gambling for thousands of years. Why fight nature? In today's economic environment, it seems like an even better idea to legalize, regulate, and tax the hell out of these three things.
People concerned that teenagers are going to start shooting heroin and banging prostitutes in increased numbers should realize that legalization and regulation would probably cut back on the availability of this stuff among minors. When I was at college and 17 years old, I had to walk a mile in the snow with a bad fake ID to get a six pack of Natty ice. The liquor store was even tougher to crack. But if I wanted a dime bag of weed I could make a phone call at any time and have it delivered to my room in ten minutes. The illegal stuff bypassed the system and was much easier to get.
A quick look at some rough numbers indicates that on an annual basis, the U.S. tax payer would save about 100 billion dollars if we legalized all three of these things. This includes the savings from getting rid of enforcement as well as the benefit of taxing these things at a rate similar to alcohol and tobacco.
What do you think, shouldn't we stop wasting time and money trying to repress human nature?
