FAITH, HOPE and LOTTERIES

There was a time not so long ago when only the Mob ran the numbers racket. Betting on a number was outlawed by the state and they sic-ed the Feds on the Mob.

Then some bright bureaucrat is some poor state, back in the late 70's, short on budget (I forget which state was first and the exact startdate) decided to muscle-in on the hoods and take over the numbers racket for itself.

BINGO!

The State hit the jackpot and millions of unearned dollars came pouring in its coffers. (Gotta hand it to them hoods, they sure knew a good thing when they saw it.)

Well, to cut a long story sort, soon there was not a state in the Union (not sure if that is right either - maybe not Utah) who was not running a lottery racket of their own.

Don't know what the sum of the National rip-off is these days, but it runs in the billions.

So what is the moral of the story so far? Betting on numbers is illegal if you belong to the Mob, but legal if you are in Government.

Anyway, the States are awash in gambling money now and the numbers are growing in leaps and bounds every year and some of it is indeed trickling down and helping the poor and the infrastructure.

But what are the side effects of the cash injection?

For starters, Now that betting is not socially frowned upon it has helped to feed a national frenzy of gambling addictions that is reaching epidemic proportions. (Just check the Internet.)

Secondly; there was a religious reason for outlawing gambling in the first place. Betting on the lottery is tantamount to betting on one's fate - which is a betrayal of God's own intentions for us.

We came to an ethical fork in the road somewhere in the 1970's and we took the left hand path to easy riches and it has taken the spirit out of us.

Much of the nation is now focused on getting a quick fix and has abandoned that long and careful walk down the straight and narrow.

Faith and hope in winning the lottery has almost entirely replaced our Faith and Hope in winning a place in Heaven.

As gambling sky-rockets, faith and hope in hard work earning its just rewards will also, inevitably, erode.

And so. yet another great civilization falls gradually into decay, bites the dust and disappears from human memory.