Dear Jasper John,
You seem to belittle gambling as a problem but gambling brought our alma mater to its historical low and almost ruined its reputation forever. During the 1951 basketball scandals two Manhattan players were found guilty of accepting bribes and other players were approached. Fortunately one of these was Junius Kellogg, Manhattan’s first black basketball player, who was attending Manhattan on the GI Bill. Think of what might have happened to Manhattan College if Kellogg had not been there- and he would not have been if libertarians had had their way. Tax payers would no doubt had better uses for their money, like betting on basketball games. The GI bill was anathema to libertarians and other conservatives but the historian Stephen Ambrose said of the bill:
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The suburbs, starting with Levittown and others, were paid by GIs borrowing on their GI Bill at a very low interest rate. Thousands and thousands of small businesses were started in this country and are still there thanks to the loans from the GI Bill. It transformed our country. (NewsHour, July 4, 2000)
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The bill had been passed by a slim margin, and, said historian Michael Beschloss, “a lot — particularly republicans — said let’s not pass this thing … They felt that it would encourage sloth; that people wound not try to get jobs. They thought this this would extend the welfare state, rather than do the opposite.”
Manhattan College benefited mightily from the GI Bill in many ways, but above all the bill saved Manhattan College and College basketball from a possibly fatal scandal.
Jasper John, Manhattan College might well have been out of business by the time you and I attended if not for “gooferment” actions like the GI Bill.
Sincerely yours,
Donald M Stebbins
BS 1961
[JR: I am truly sorrow that you have the misimpression that I think any of these "problems" are trivial, meaningless, or not worthy of solution. I think there are systemic failures which result in these "problems". In your email, you id two "problems" which I would call symptoms. Gambling isn't the problem; it's making it illegal. I f gambling was legal, there'd be no bookies to shave points. The "GI Bill" isn't the problem; Gooferment making wars is. Speaking for "libertarians", who really are as different as flakes in a snowstorm, us flakes focus on the Gooferment's supposed monopoly on force as the root cause of most problems. Some flakes will assert it's ALL problems. In Economics, we study "The broken window fallacy" --- Frédéric Bastiat Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas (That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen) 1850. Might you concede that to pay the GI Bill, wealth was taken by force from some and given to others? Then might you consider that it might have been taken from a more productive use. Or maybe after it was taken, it was wasted. How do you KNOW that the GI Bill was better than another endeavor? Broken window. And, how do we know that there might have been other BETTER solutions than putting Gooferment in charge. Sorry, but just because there were benefits, even to MC, does not PROVE that is was good. We know it was not right! It's immoral to take from someone what is rightfully theirs. No matter how magnificent the cause. This is the essence of our difference. Everyone has the right to be free.]
[JR: Upon reflection, I'd rather see MC close rather than be a vulture feeding on the carcass of liberty. Like abortion, you can't avoid the consequences of principles. In my younger days, I thought that laws could prohibit addiction, gambling, vice, and all sorts of bad stuff. Now, I see that you have to let people be free. Free to make mistakes, to learn, to grow, to adapt. Now, I KNOW that we're being fooled. It's a mental disease to think that Gooferment can control us. Live free or die. Because Gooferment is the meme that kills.]
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