-By Warner Todd Huston
Government is often called the “necessary evil.” But whatever it is, as each day passes we see that the “evil” part of that axiom seems ever more true. We can see the pernicious qualities of government at every level from local, to the state, to the era of Obamaism in the federal government. But if you want yet another example of how truly disgusting government is we have to look no farther than Illinois, the corruption larded Land of Lincoln.
In 2009 the Illinois State legislature passed a bill that for the first time legalized video poker machines. This was done so that the state could raise much needed revenue — I say “much needed” because obvious CUTS are never considered in a budget that is billions of dollars over spent. But because so many Illinoisans oppose the evils of legal gambling in their state the legislature added an opt out clause so that each individual county and community could decide if they wanted to allow video gambling in their jurisdiction.
It almost seemed the perfect bill. Those areas that wanted to throw propriety and good government aside could vote for allowing video poker, those that realized that it was bad policy could just say no. What’s better than local rule?
Well, leave it to government to mess it all up. You see, the avaricious, profligate spenders in the state capitol in Springfield began to get alarmed at how many communities wanted to choose the opt out clause. These drunken sailors began to see that they might not get the revenue they thought they would see. So they arrived at a plan to get it anyway. These ripoff artists that pretend at being our leaders devised a new tax, one that would penalize any community that opted out of video gambling.
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Illinois: Why Government Cannot be Trusted”