"The
Lottery, our Kids' Ticket to Nowhere" was the theme of the Indian Springs Baptist
Brotherhood breakfast Saturday morning, scheduled 3 months ago to be held Feb 3, at the
Indian Springs Baptist Church Christian Life Center in Kingsport. Little did anyone
planning the meeting know how timely that Brotherhood meeting would turn out to be.
According to featured speaker Sen. Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville), "There are no
coincidences with God. How would anyone, even as late as last week, have thought we were
about to have an information meeting on the lottery just days before the scheduled final
vote!"
Brotherhood members Norris Gilliam, Larry Bowers, Larry Cregger, Bill Lee, Ron Ligon, and
Clarence Booth knew the lottery was a serious threat in Tennessee, and saw the need to
share information with their Brotherhood about it. In planning the meeting, they decided
to invite Sen. Ron Ramsey, a vocal gambling opponent, and invite people from other
churches and neighboring Associations to hear him speak. However, with the first lottery
vote taking place Feb. 1, people from all over started calling asking for tickets. By
meeting time, a full house with people from 23 different churches representing 7 different
denominations were attending the meeting.
Sen. Ramsey explained to the group why Tennessee doesn't have a lottery today. "Our
constitution specifically prohibits a lottery. It takes a constitutional amendment to
allow a lottery. This is done by one of two methods, both of which should be time
consuming and require lots of legislative thought. The first method is a constitutional
convention, which is used to make changes to the constitution for various issues, and can
only be called once every six years. In a convention, the legislature votes to put the
question before the public, 'do you want to have a constitutional convention on this
issue?". The public says yes or no, then the public holds an election for delegates,
then the delegates decide what to do about the issue, then the public gets to vote on
whether to accept or reject the change the delegates made. It's a long process, on
purpose. The referendum method requires the legislators to look at an issue and agree or
disagree with it. It's a cop-out to say 'we're just going to let the people decide.' We
are constitutionally bound to agree or disagree that the issue being brought up for a
referendum will be good for the people of Tennessee. Then we have to approve that by a
simple majority in one General Assembly, and by a 2/3 majority in the next General
Assembly. Again, it's designed to take a long time on purpose, so the legislators can be
sure. The lottery referendum has been the last thing on the legislative agenda the last
few years to give the lottery supporters time to lobby the Senators. The lottery has been
passing easily by 2/3 majorities in the House, but they haven't ever been able to get more
than 17 votes in favor of getting the government in the business of promoting gambling.
What has happened is that two Senators who were no votes have changed to yes votes, and
two anti-lottery Senators retired and were replaced with pro-lottery senators. So this
year they started early. I can't believe where we are today. The first day of the
legislative session was Monday. The lottery referendum passed the House by its usual large
majority last general assembly, and barely passed the Senate, but by enough to keep it
alive. The first day back was Monday, and they surprised us by suspending the rules to put
the lottery referendum in committee Tuesday, where it passed by a large majority, then
they suspended the rules to get it on the floor for an immediate vote last Thursday. This
is very unprecedented. A constitutional amendment is supposed to take time. The vote was
22-11 to suspend the rules, so people think they have the 22 votes to pass the bill. The
final vote is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday, if they think they still have the votes to
pass it, that's when it will take place. They'll delay it if they don't think they have
the votes.
Why do I think people should be opposed to the lottery? This is one issue opponents take
lots of heat on because we don't live in a democracy, but a republic. I think there are
certain things government shouldn't do, and certain things government should do. I think
government should be in the court, police, road, and education business. I don't think
it's a legitimate function of government to encourage people to gamble away their dollars.
My father and grandfather knew that there are three keys to success- hard work,
dedication, and discipline. People don't luck into success. Gambling preys on the poor.
Lottery's biggest success story, the Georgia HOPE scholarships, has all the money go to
finance a college education for anyone with a B average. There is documented evidence of
grade inflation in Georgia-every parent insists on a B for their kid so they can get into
college with one of these scholarships. There is also documented evidence that inner city
kids are financing a free college education for people who would have gone to college
anyway without the HOPE scholarships.
"People argue that "we already have a lottery anyway, it's just in Kentucky,
Georgia, or Virginia." Well, this doesn't mean we have to endorse it because they do.
I tell my kids, 'everybody else doing it does not mean it' s ok'. I was at a Virginia
convenience store and saw a young woman, about 22 years old, with a handfull of lottery
tickets. She was busily scratching off those tickets, then with no winning ticket, she
walked out to her car, which had 2 small children screaming in the back seat, and got into
a car that would barely crank. I just don't think government should be in the business of
encouraging her to buy those tickets in her ignorance."
Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) also spoke to the group. Stating that he was the only
state representative between Mountain City and Knoxville to vote against the lottery
referendum. He shared that he thought abortion was a violation of the commandment against
killing, and state-run lotteries were a violation against the commandment against
stealing. He said that his Biblical views shaped his political votes against the lottery
issue, and that he and others were often criticized for voting their Biblical beliefs.
Stating that he had a degree in economics, Mumpower shared strong economic opposition to
the lottery. He stated that lotteries take away money from real goods and services in
Tennessee, sharing various economic myths about lotteries. He shared that when Kentucky
instituted a state lottery, then the largest tax increase in the state's history followed
just to pay the administration costs for the lottery. He shared that an income tax was
proposed last year to solve state costs. The projections were that the income tax would
have generated $2 billion. The lottery will generate only $120 million. "Now $120
million dollars would be a huge amount in my bank account. But in the state of Tennessee's
bank account, it's not a very large amount of money."
Mumpower brought the Oath of Office he takes at the start of each legislative session. He
keeps a framed copy on the wall in his house. It states, "I will not propose or
assent to any bill, vote or resolution, which shall appear to me injurious to the people
of Tennessee". Mumpower stated, "The issue of the lottery has been
well-documented to be injurious to people, so much so that if I assented to that
referendum bill, I would be in violation of that Oath. I think when we push a lottery by
saying the money is going for education, we are prostituting our children to use them to
pass something like this."
The meeting ended with a call to prayer for protection for our state against passage of
gambling legislation and encouragement for each person to call and e-mail their Senators
immediately.
Packets of material with information on the lottery and its
effects on Tennessee were distributed to representatives from each church in attendance.
Packet material and a slide presentation on the lottery and the Rocky Top bingo
scandal are found on the web site www.isbc.org/lotto/Lhome.htm
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