Democracy is a beautiful thing. It???s a shame when an elderly wealthy casino owner tries to cut a check to buy it. It???s even worse when conservative politicians, who lecture the entire country on limited government and growing small business, turn a blind-eye on the country for their own financial gain.
I???m talking about Sheldon Adelson, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), who when together, are their own ???Justice League.??? They seem to have a perverted sense of congressional duty to their country and care more about the needs of an aging casino mogul than the needs of their own constituents. I???m sorry to say, but it???s true.
On Wednesday, February 4, 2015, Rep. Jason Chaffetz reintroduced a bill that would impose the federal ban on Internet gambling. The Restoration of America???s Wire Act (RAWA) rewrites the Federal Wire Act of 1961 with the goal of banning most forms of online gambling, whether or not, state governments have chosen to legalize and regulate it. Ironically, it allows certain types of horseracing gaming, which is a staple of Adelson???s business model.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who by the way has less of a chance at becoming President than disgraced Rep. Aaron Schock has of redecorating his Congressional office again, introduced a similar version in the Senate. The irony of a Graham who said that he???s ???never used email,??? is banning a modern-day digital revolution, is simply overwhelming.
The main driver behind this massive push to keep internet gambling illegal, hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue offshores, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs internet gambling would create, is the CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson, 81, has been building his house of cards since 2012, when he pumped over $90 million into Republican President Campaigns. It wasn???t long after this, that one of his lobbyist would draft that bill that eventually became RAWA, and with his newly purchased Congress and puppet politicians, he???s now got insurance, and the American people at his mercy.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is a member of the 10th Amendment task force, a House group with the mission to ???Restore the Constitutional balance of power through liberty-enhancing federalism.??? In 2013, Goodlatte and the House Judiciary Committee issued a set of guiding principles to use during the consideration of an Internet sales tax, one being that states should be allowed to decide whether they impose a tax. In the list of principles he released for a ???remote sales tax,??? No. 6 read:
???States should be sovereign within their physical boundaries. In addition, the federal government should not mandate that States impose any sales tax compliance burdens.???
But in 2014 Goodlatte criticized federal legislation, called the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to collect sales tax on Internet purchases. The bill infringed on states??? rights by allowing a state???s citizens to be taxed by other states.
???Any online sales tax system must be simple enough for every business to use and fair, so that all businesses ... are on equal footing.???
Yet now he is ok with the federal government second-guessing the citizens of a state in violation of the Tenth Amendment.
This is an issue that has been largely silent, as the country is in constant turmoil with the growing list of scandals with the Obama administration, and virtually no piece of legislation being voted on that helps the economy grow. With enough support, a legalized and regulated form in Internet Gambling would generate millions of dollars in much needed tax revenue, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs; moreover it would spike the creativity and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people.
If you would like to contact Chaffetz, Graham, or Goodlatte, below is their contact info???and don???t worry if you???re not a constituent of theirs, since they seem to know what???s best for all of us, they can deal with the backlash of pissed of Americans who are sick of Members of Congress who are subsidiaries of major corporations.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz
https://chaffetz.house.gov/contact-me
DC Office: (202) 225-7751
Utah Office: (801) 851-2500
Sen. Lindsey Graham
DC Office: (202) 224-5972
South Carolina Office: (843) 849-3887
Rep. Bob Goodlatte
DC Office: (202) 225-5431
Pennsylvania Office: (540) 432-2391
Tell them you don???t agree with a Sheldon Adelson drafted federal ban on certain Internet gaming.
