Thrasaline - What if a toy take 'em i'th' heels now, and they run all away, and cry the Devil take the hindmost?* Beaumont and Fletcher: Philaster; Or, Love Lies a Bleeding
AS A CRITIC of the kind of "classical liberalism" which takes its meaning from the 18th century "enlightenment" instead of the earlier Scriptural meaning which was based in liberal provision for the destitute and poor and unfavored, the weak of mind, etc. one of the things I most despise about it is the lie that people are to always be taken as "rational actors" or "rational agents" and that the law, the legal system and politics is to always pretend that they are and every choice they make is to be considered in terms of a formal contract.
What that is is lawyer-lies to argue that those their wealthy clients entrap, rob, destroy through unillegalized theft and enslavement are merely giving those pretended to be rational agents what they want. Well, in some cases that is arguably the case though in those cases when corporations and individuals use that most notably successful but not all that insightful areas of psychology, the PR industry, to tempt, lie, gull, entrap and fleece People who are vulnerable, lawyers, judges and, ultimately that most corrupt body of all US lawyers, "justices" pretend to not understand exactly what is going on. They simply take the attitude "not my problem" a they act for the crooks and con men, those whose business is based on even the worst of conning, entrapping, robbing and destroying those on the basis that those vulnerable to those consciously used tactics are "rational agents" even though the entirety of human history proves that is a lie. That was understood from time immemorial as the story of Eve being gulled by the snake and Adam, the dope, going along with it is the quintessential model of that.
I have told you about the People in my family destroyed by alcoholism, I suspect nearly every family has closer or more distant relations about whom that same story could be told. I didn't tell you of my sister whose death was certainly hastened and made worse by her inhalation of second-hand smoke from her husband and, tragically, enough, her children. And now I have another family member, an adoptive nephew, who I found out yesterday has fallen victim to online gambling to ruinous, perhaps eventually, suicidal effect - we're worried about that. I won't go into details except to say that I strongly suspect he's not going to pull out of it, he's the kind who is vulnerable to such things. I know this won't get back to him so I'll tell you that much.
That was one of the things I disagreed with the late Barney Frank about more strongly than many other things we disagreed about, in looking for quotes from him in support of his notable and, I hold, infamous support for that dangerous, non-productive, and known to be addictive industry, a quick Duck Duck search for that showed that gambling sites and magazines widely noted his passing as a champion of their industry. I'll pass by most of what I read to give you some of this article that show what I mean in terms of such "classical liberalism."
Barney Frank, the former Congressman known for his push to legalize online poker, has passed away. His efforts sparked debate among advocates and detractors alike, revealing differing views on his impact and methods during his tenure.
A Divided Legacy
Frank's history in Congress is marked by his controversial lobbying efforts. Supporters hailed him as a pivotal figure in making online poker accessible, but critics accused him of being more of a con artist than a true crusader. "He took cash to lobby; he wasn't very effective," one commentator noted.
Despite this, his legacy in gambling legislation remains significant. The regulation of online poker and betting has progressively shaped the industry, moving it closer to legitimacy.
Note that sentence "He took cash to lobby; he wasn't very effective," I would like to know how much of that cash was in the form of campaign donations, a direct consequence of the corruption that the ACLU and NYCU and other "civil liberties" groups had a hand in bringing when they supported the Supreme Court decision that made "money=speech" and destroying CLEAN ELECTION legislation in Buckley vs Valeo. I recall Frank noting in his witty way that politicians were pretended to be the only group of human beings who were, the Court and "civil libertarians" pretended were to be expected to take large amounts of money without giving anything in return. Only, unlike me, I don't recall Frank ever admitting that it was the Court and "civil libertarians" who were peddling that lie. I don't, by the way, think it enhances Frank's moral reputation that he clearly saw that lie but went along with it when it came to the gambling industry. Such are the moral compromises that come with such liberalism as opposed to the older form of it, such "classical liberalism" such "liberty."
And later the article points to more of how that corruption is baked into our "liberal democracy."
A New Era for Online Poker
As the online poker landscape continues to evolve, discussions around regulation are expected to gain traction after Frank’s passing. There's speculation that additional states might push towards legalization to tap into potential tax revenue. Expect state legislators to rethink their positions as public interest increases.
I'm old enough to remember that it was the one state that my state borders, New Hampshire, that used to be the only state that had a state lottery. And that was to "support education" because, famously lacking both a state income and sales tax, all of the support for government fell onto things like the state liquor store monopoly and local property taxes. As politicians started running exclusively on "cutting taxes" - and never forget, New Hampshire is probably the most Republican of the New England states - this is the kind of thing they have turned to. And it certainly didn't remain just to fund "education." But, then, these days my state is as much in the thick of that as any, with state approved casinos. I'm told the one close to me, which we were told would bring in lots and lots of out of state gamblers has pretty much only Maine license plates in the parking lot.
Crossover from History: The Shift in Civil Rights
Looking back, the civil rights movement offers an interesting parallel. Just as figures like Barney Frank sparked discussions on gambling, civil rights leaders illuminated the ethical ambiguities in politics. Both movements reveal tension between progressive changes and pushback from more traditional factions.
First, the use of "progressive changes" to describe a libertarian position on gambling is historically ironic and journalistically inept because gambling, along with such things as prostitution and drinking, was one of the foremost targets of the progressive era's political attempt to regulate it, if not wipe it out. That was a reaction, in all three cases, to the actual destructive consequences in real lives of all three. The "tradition" in the United States, at least in so far as alcohol and gambling, had been hard libertarian. I have, of course, generated some heat by pointing out there is nothing about the certain consequences of such things, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual enslavement, alcoholism, the consequences that come with drinking even among those who aren't alcoholics, which can be considered to be a matter of a "right" to suffer them. And even more so when those and similar issues are combined as they so often are in the prostitution and porn industries, the incidence of addiction and suicide and murder in that bastion of "civil liberties" championship is really rather telling as to the actual character of that ideology.
In American history, it was those who insisted on having a realistic view of such "liberties" such ""rights"" who were the ones who weren't in any way tied to tradition. I've seen all three fairly closely, in those I've known, I've know people who were part of the porn industry, one of the first men I knew who died of AIDS was a porn "model." I have a grand-niece who became an addict and, as her own mother told it to me, "a blow-job prostitute living beneath a bush in the Fens, in Boston." She was one of the luckier ones, though it did result in her contracting hepatitis C, she has, so far, successfully been treated for her opiate addiction and is under treatment and working a job. She is, by the way, the only one in my very large family who has had a serious addiction problem who has succeeded in staying off of it for, now, more than a decade. The alcoholics in my family, with possibly one exception, have, uniformly, only stopped when they died from it. I thank God with some regularity that none of them have killed anyone in a car accident. We don't have a lot of experience with gambling addictions in my family, the superstitious belief in luck isn't notably strong in the strain of Irish Catholicism we were brought up in. At least not to the extent we'd bet money on it.
And getting back to the role that such liberties-loving law-making is peddled, we were told all kinds of yarns in that regard, one of them which I believe I remember Barney Frank repeating was that "it's better to legalize it and regulate it." If he didn't say it someone else certainly did because I've heard it continually since I started paying attention to politics in my infancy. Well, if there's one thing you can count on in the intrinsically corrupt, "civil liberties" "corporate person-hood" "money=speech" dirty money politics that the "civil liberties" industry and the most corrupt of all the branches of the Federal government, the Supreme Court have brought us to, it is that any attempt at regulation will either not be allowed at all, or will fall, whether under Supreme Court ruling or by a more corrupt Congress and executive, as the industry involved seeks to get ever more favorable conditions for their money making. You can bet on even the most dangerous and ruinous and addictive activity tied to profits being ever more able to do that without having to worry much about regulation. THAT IS HOW TOTALLY CORRUPT OUR CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM IS.
* You hardly ever hear the answer to that.
Dion- Then the same Devil take the foremost too, and sowce him for his breakfast.
The consequences for libertarianism eventually hurt everyone, you can't depend on your "rational agency" to escape that for yourself. Don't be a sucker for that superstition.
Update: A lot of the current increase in addiction and its consequences is a direct result of the Supreme Courts "civil liberties" legislating from the bench. I haven't looked to see if the ACLU or other "civil liberties" lawyer groups weighed in on the case. That makes it a consequence of the Constitutional order and, worse the Marbury type of Supreme Court usurpation of law making (nullification being a part of law making) from the bench.
In 2018, a Supreme Court ruling struck down a federal sports betting ban, and gambling skyrocketed in subsequent years. Today, about 22% of Americans—and 48% of men ages 18–49—report having at least one online sportsbook account, according to the Siena Research Institute. As of December 2025, 31 states, plus Washington, D.C., allow for some form of online sports betting.
“We’re referring to it as the largest and fastest explosion of gambling the country has ever seen,” says Cait Huble, MA, MBA, director of public affairs for the National Council on Problem Gambling. “We’re a decade behind other addictions in terms of public understanding, which is going to lead to a lot of real-world harm.”
Gambling disorder falls in the same diagnostic category as drug and alcohol use disorders. One in five people with a gambling disorder attempt or complete suicide, an even higher risk than with other substance use disorders. Gambling tends to occur alongside other behavioral health conditions, such as problem alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, adds Christopher Welsh, MD, medical director of the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling. Plus, mobile sports betting skews heavily toward younger male users, a population already facing higher rates of suicide and loneliness.
Identifying someone with disordered gambling can be tricky, and many people don’t know how or when to seek help, says University of Nebraska-Lincoln drug and alcohol educator Jon Gayer, PhD.
“You know when someone’s drunk,” he says. “You don’t know when someone’s stepped away and placed a $100 bet on the phone and then come back to dinner.”
But those behaviors can quickly devolve into problematic outcomes, says Elizabeth Thielen, LPC, a gambling counselor in Illinois. She’s listened to numerous accounts of students gambling away financial aid awards or blowing off their classes. Underage students will log on under a parent’s account or ask an older classmate to funnel bets through their app.
“They’re losing sleep, their attendance is slipping, and they’re being harassed and threatened if they owe money,” she says.
