THE PUBLIC MIND: RIVERBOAT GAMBLING ARGUMENTS WANTING

To the Editor:

I'm writing in response to the recent "Be Our Guest" column in defense of riverboat gambling.

I agree that Cape Girardeau is a wonderful place to live and raise children. That's why my family and I are here. And, similarly, I believe Cape Girardeau needs to grow, insure financial opportunities for its residents and attract additional business into the area.

However, Mr. Proffer's arguments on the social values of gambling are less than sound, because hope based upon something as abstract and fleeting as gambling will not insure a sense of meaning in life. He promotes the same thing Karl Marx inaccurately said about religion being "the opiate of the people."

Giving the residents of Southeast Missouri a false hope of reality will only drive them further into despair. Air travel and computers, "at one time ... considered unrealistic dreams," are based upon unchanging physical laws and can't be readily compared with the "unrealistic dream" of winning at gambling. Mr. Proffer seems to be more concerned about having hope than hope based upon reality.

America was founded and settled on the premise that God's Word is, just as physical laws are, unchangeable moral law. The Founding Fathers risked their lives for a system of morals which was guaranteed to work by God Almighty. They would never have put their lives on the line for some ethereal dream.

Dreams and calculated risks aren't meaningless when their cause is noble and correspond to the Divine Will. Man's reason, which the Bible clearly teaches is fallen, is an inappropriate and incapable standard by which to judge his dreams. The belief that reason is infallible reflects the age old philosophy of the Enlightenment.

I still fail to see riverboat gambling as the only means by which to generate revenue in Cape Girardeau and find the supporting arguments wanting.

Fred W. Poston

Cape Girardeau