The 'Ol Bait-and Switch
2008-08-28 13:14:03
By:
Gene Bromberg
With the 2008 Presidential elections almost upon us and both national parties holding their conventions over the next few days, there's been a lot of talk about politics lately. Actually, there's been a lot of talk about politics for the last 12 months or so. Way too much talk. Not that there aren't a lot of things wrong with our political process, but the way we nominate Presidential candidates is at the top of the list.
Anyway, those of us who play online poker and would like to see it legalized have been hoping that the 2008 election might bring about a change in the blinkered U.S. position on our game. Ever since the UIGEA was passed thanks to former Senator Bill Frist's legislative sleight-of-hand, poker enthusiasts have been hoping for a repeal of that law. It's true that the legalization of poker isn't going be a major point of contention in the election, but when you see how close the last two elections were (and we try not to think about how much better off we'd have been had they gone the other way) both parties are scrambling to find ways to attract a few more voters to their side. And since the
Poker Players Alliance now boasts over 1 million members finding a way to appeal to poker players is certainly in both party's best interests.
It appeared that poker players had displayed their collective strength when the Republican Party officially dropped opposition to online gaming from it's offical platform. That the GOP was not offically on record as opposed to online gaming seemed a step in the right direction.
"This is a small victory in our determined effort to educate both sides of the aisle that there is a true constituency in America that values its Internet freedoms," John Pappas, the alliance's executive director, said of the draft platform.
Alas, that small victory was short-lived. The platform committee continued to debate the issue and now the anti-gaming language has been reinserted into the platform. This is the sort of back-and-forth bargaining and lobbying that makes participatory democracy the worst form of government in the world (except for all the others). From reading over some of the debate some of the committee said that children from 13-15 are the fastest growing group of gamblers, that online gaming sites support terrorism, and other things that are blatantly false. But since when has an honest appraisal of the facts been part of government?
While the Republicans were toying the rights of poker players, the Democrats were holding their national convention in Denver. And, also, holding a poker tournament hosted by Ben Affleck. The tournament was held to raise money for the Paralyzed Veterans of America and several Democratic politicians were in attendance. As was the ubiquitous John Pappas of the PPA, who said,
"Next year, we're going to have a new Congress, probably even a more broader Democratic majority," John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance. "I think we have a real good opportunity to move toward the direction that we want."
Elections are important. I think the last eight years have borne that out. And while I don't think many people are one-issue voters when it comes to poker (in fact I pray NO ONE is) you should look at the big picture. Which party is dedicated to denying Americans their rights, and has in fact worked tirelessly to strip as many rights away from Americans as possible? Are you all right with that? If not, you need to learn about the issues and VOTE. And encourage others to vote as well. That's our job, after all.
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