BE OUR GUEST: MORALITY SHOULD BE CONSIDERATION IN BOAT GAMBLING ELECTION

Grant Lund is a professor of art at Southeast Missouri State University. He had worked in Nevada for four summers.

The gambling issue is being widely discussed, but the issue of morality, which is often brought up with it, is little understood. Every society which wants to survive encourages (either through beliefs, customs or laws) behavior which has been found to be for the long range good of that society. Societies may vary in the specifics of their morality, but morality is a concern for the long range health of that society. Where there is no concern for long range health of the society there is no morality. Expediency coming from a desire for immediate gratification without regard for long range consequences corrodes the stability of basic human needs. What is expedient is seldom in the best interest of society. Plain and simple, morality is the beliefs and customs a society has adopted to maintain its own long range survival.

Morality is a long developmental process which draws its validity from history. Morality can not be defined by individual choice. No person or group caught in the pressures of the moment can effectively redefine morality. In the long run, reality is the basis of morality. Our society in general has been called a "me" society focused on the immediacy of the moment: whether it is government debt, personal sexual relationships, or recreational stimulation such as alcohol and gambling. We want the quick fix and the immediate rewards. People focused on gambling, whether it is the lottery, bingo, or riverboat gambling, don't consider hard sustained effort as the source of achievement. They want the magic of something for nothing. Most do not want responsibility thrust upon them through moral consideration. Responsible behavior is a moral issue.

Morality is more than just laws. Laws are effective only if the great majority of the society share the same moral value system. Laws are intended to control the fringe who would sell the welfare of society for their own gain. Laws are ineffective if the majority of the society do not share the moral value. Society just looks the other way as long as the actions do not directly affect them. Prohibition did not work, because it was not part of the moral values of the majority of society.

Alcohol is the number one drug problem in the United States, but society does not want to deal with it as a moral issue. Nevertheless 23,000 people died in alcohol related car accidents last year. Moral reality requires that there are some laws related to alcohol control. They are generally ineffective with youth because the youth generally do not consider the morality of their drinking. They focus on the immediate stimulation. As a society we have become willing to accept short term pleasure without regard for long term pain. Gambling has become like prohibition.

History speaks of the degeneration of moral values in Germany preceding the Hitler era. Laws and lawyers proliferate with moral decay. A society with strong moral values has minimum laws because it is regulated by self control.

From a purely economic standpoint drugs, such as crack, cocaine, heroine, and marijuana, are very profitable. Marijuana is the largest cash crop in Missouri. If Cape so critically needs economic growth why not recognize Cape formally and legally, so taxes might be collected, as the center of drug distribution of the entire Mississippi Valley area? Economically it would make sense. Prostitution is also a job producing profession which would bring tourists to Cape and would allow a lot of college students job opportunities. Why not legalize prostitution along with gambling? The state of Nevada did.

Both drug trafficking and prostitution do exist in Cape because of economic reasons, but are not accepted under the law for moral reasons. But because people in Cape have not been united in their moral stance on this, law enforcement is not as effective as some people think it ought to be. Cape has had several drug related murders, had a lawyer who has been accused of possession of a kilo of cocaine (but no trial yet), and has a "crack street" named Good Hope.

However, long range focus on morality may also have long range economic impact. Although I work in Cape, I moved my family from Cape to Jackson several years ago. A friend of mine, who was a teacher at Central High School, told me that the school administration was soft on drug pushers if the parents were influential in the community. She quit teaching in Cape and moved from the area for this reason. I worried about the morality training of my children. Cape has grown in population only 75 people in the last 10 years while Jackson has grown approximately 2,500. That has some short range as well as long range economic impact.

The vote on riverboat gambling has a lot to do with morality. If riverboat gambling is for the long range good of the community then history from other gambling communities should validate this claim. Look at the communities which have had gambling for a long time and see what has happened to the total society because of having it. (Recently it was stated in this paper that $30 billion dollars have been taken out of the economy in the Atlantic City area by gambling.) Are the people better people in the long run? Does the community as a whole prosper? Do the workers become better workers or do they get caught up in the striving of something for nothing?

I have lived and worked in the State of Nevada and seen gambling first hand. What I see in the presentation in favor of gambling is a focus on economic immediacy. Morality is a concern for the long range good of the community. The people pushing riverboat gambling often cloak it in the appearance of community good, but only in terms of economics.

It may be like putting a four-lane highway through a residential area without including sidewalks. It is great for the people driving through, economically it helps the government, but it creates significant problems for the families and children who must walk the roadway everyday.

Plain and simple, morality is a concern for the total community. Morality should be a consideration in this election.

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