The Free View-- weblog of a presidential candidate

William Bennett, the Gambling Moralizer

I've had a number of distractions keeping me from posting new entries-- I've got a dumpster rented for the week and am doing some dramatic spring cleaning; my mother has come to visit from Massachusetts and I've been preparing for that; and then when I was finally ready to get going again, my blog software wouldn't let me in because something broke when my web host installed an upgrade of some sort.

All that's mostly in the past now (though the dumpster's here for two more days, and my mom's here 'til the 19th), and I'll try to get back in the swing of things. In that spirit, here's an article about William Bennett, the U.S.'s top public moralizer. Apparently, Mr. We-Must-Be-Better-People has a major gambling itch, and he scratches it with much gusto, dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on his habit. In fact, the Washington Monthly article claims he has lost a total of 8 million dollars to his diversion of choice.

From the article:

Bennett says he has made no secret of his gambling. "I've gambled all my life and it's never been a moral issue with me. I liked church bingo when I was growing up. I've been a poker player."

It's never been a moral issue with him...but I'm sure there's at least a few people who would disagree, and strongly.

The article again:

Heavy gambling, like drug use, can lead to divorce, domestic violence, child abuse, and bankruptcy. According to a 1998 study commissioned by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, residents within 50 miles of a casino are twice as likely to be classified as "problem" or "pathological" gamblers than those who live further away.

I'm no big moralizer. I do believe that people should do good, and I do think there are ways to live badly and screw up one's life, and that it's generally better to avoid going down that path, but I sure don't make a living urging and forcing people to do so. Bill Bennett does, though -- from being a hard line Drug Czar, to implementing character education in schools, to writing book after book about virtue, to starting foundations and doing speaking appearances. And it strikes me as ironic at best -- hypocritical at worst -- that Mr. Morality whiles away the hours at the big-money slot machines.

At the least, it'd be nice if he'd apply his own abuse standard to others:

"I play fairly high stakes. I adhere to the law. I don't play the 'milk money.' I don't put my family at risk, and I don't owe anyone anything."

If we ended the drug war, there would be millions of currently-criminal people who would be able to offer the same reasonable-sounding justification for their own less-than-productive habits.

Or maybe he could try applying this standard:

When reminded of studies that link heavy gambling to divorce, bankruptcy, domestic abuse, and other family problems he has widely decried, Bennett compared the situation to alcohol.

"I view it as drinking," Bennett says. "If you can't handle it, don't do it."

Wow, imagine that! People making their own decisions about whether they can handle their hobbies/habits responsibly. I guess if we were all as upright as William Bennett, we wouldn't need all these laws to make us become good people. But we're not...so for now we'll just have to keep looking to moral paragons like Bennett to help keep us on the straight and narrow. Maybe we can figure out a new Czar job he can have. Or at least we could get him a long-term suite at the Bellagio. After all, he's given us so much -- and by "us" I mean, of course, the gambling industry.

Here's another story about this from MSNBC.