Poker Politics: Why you should vote for Ron Paul

Photo: RonPaul.com

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Topics: Epic Poker League, Player Forum, Daniel O'Brien, Politics

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This is an opinion piece. Unlike most political opinions however, mine is rooted in information and logic. A full analysis of each candidate's policies and their effects on the country is beyond the scope of this piece. I will do my best to keep the subjects relevant to the poker world.

Stance on Online Poker

This is clearly the most important issue to a lot of online players, so I'll start here before getting into some of the subtleties. After reading Jennifer Newell's article about the Republican candidates' views regarding online poker, it seems to be a two-man race for the poker vote. Romney spoke out against it, so he's cut. Gingrich and Santorum have yet to take a side, but we can make some educated guesses.

Gingrich is a loose cannon so it's hard to predict what he'll do. My gut says that he's against it to appease his conservative base. However, with his quests to increase federal spending, incite wars with any country he sees fit, and inhabit the moon all while balancing the budget, I think he'll be open to online gambling as long as he gets a big enough cut to make it worth his while. I still don't like his chances for pushing for it in any way, and again, I'd bet he'd push against it in the early going at least.

Santorum is a no-brainer. "This is a country of morals", and he believes that his God-given morals should be the law of this land from sea to shining sea. I don't see God directing him to "let my people gamble" any time soon. I may have overused the quotes here just a bit, but I just don’t believe that any mortal has the authority to deliver God’s will to me.

I've heard that Obama was "for" online poker, but is he? In his first three years in office, the only change we saw in online poker was its complete shutdown. More recently, the DOJ redefined its interpretation of the Wire Act and states are gearing up to start their own online poker industries. This is clearly a step in the right direction, but mixed games were hard enough to get going when the whole world was playing. The lack of liquidity in intrastate poker will make all but No-Limit Hold'em pretty tough to find. It is apparent to me that Obama has no real feeling toward the poker community. Now of course, he has bigger things to worry about, but three years is a long time to make something happen. His big-government initiatives make him more likely to be looking for tax dollars anywhere he can find them, so there is hope on that front. However, I'm not overly optimistic about the next five years with him in office.

Ron Paul actually wants online poker legalized. This should be no surprise, since he wants the government out of just about everything. Unlike other candidates and congressmen, his support does not revolve around tax dollars. Paul believes that we should be free to play online poker because, well, we're supposed to be free! Sure, there are downsides to gambling: most people will lose, a small percentage will become addicted. But, there are downsides to everything, and we're all adults here. His core beliefs that we don't need to be supervised by a paternalistic government will drive him to legalize online poker, and he will do so far more swiftly than Obama might or a desperate-for-money Gingrich maybe possibly would.

Marijuana

I realize I may have the order of topics wrong. Many of you would put this first over online poker. While I rarely smoke, this is an important issue to measure a candidate's logic and reason when it comes to legislation. Ron Paul wants to legalize marijuana because it's far less dangerous than alcohol, it costs the U.S. billions in enforcement and incarceration, it creates a black market and fuels gang wars, it fuels drug cartels outside of the country and adds to immigration troubles, it has legitimate medicinal purposes, and most importantly, we're adults and we can make our own choices. He goes so far as to pinpoint the roots of marijuana prohibition in his book The Revolution: A Manifesto, blaming it mainly on anti-Mexican sentiment and misinformation. Which other candidate would take a stand like this on such politically foreign concepts as logic, reason, and factual information? Obama has been in office for three years and medical marijuana clubs in California are still being raided. I don't see any of the other Republican candidates taking on this issue either.

Taxation

Every candidate says that he wants to cut taxes. Even Obama claims to want to cut taxes on the lower classes, while raising it on the wealthier. However, no one wants to cut them all that much, because there is a massive federal government to support. Only Paul wants to ultimately eliminate the income tax. That's right, 0% income tax. Imagine what you could do with all that extra money, and the time saved on preparing a gambler's income tax form with all of the wins and losses and deductions. It may sound like a fairy tale, but it isn't. Before the 16th amendment was ratified in 1913, federal income tax was illegal. Even then, it was only 1-2% on the wealthiest Americans to support World War I. In The Revolution: A Manifesto, Ron Paul states that if federal spending were reduced only to 1996 levels in real terms, we could fully eliminate the federal income tax. Now, he won't be able to fully eliminate the tax in year one, and probably won't come too close in his first term, but it's a great path to be on. In addition, there's always a possibility that taxes on gambling could be wiped out sooner, much like they are in England and for non-professionals in Canada.

Even if you're in a low tax bracket, or you keep your cash-game winnings under your mattress, you are still being heavily taxed. Government spending is itself a tax, and no matter what the tax rates are and whether or not you're paying them, you are indirectly paying for government spending. Spending amounts to a plethora of hidden taxes, but the most deceptive tax, and the one that crushes the poor and middle classes in our country, is inflation.

Inflation

This subject is too complex for this venue, so you'll have to trust that a lot of research, reason, and logic based on sound economic theory has gone into my brief synopsis. Inflation is the bane of the lower classes. They handle the money last, so to speak, and have the least ability to protect against it. As more money is created out of thin air to pay for astronomical deficits, the value of each dollar before it is diminished. There is some dispute over whether the massive money printing will cause high inflation, but the smart people, in my opinion, are betting on the timing and the severity of it.

High inflation will be especially devastating for gamblers. Since it's a cash business, and typically a large percentage of one's net worth must be kept liquid in order to make more money, it will be more difficult to protect ourselves and our wealth from inflation than just about any other profession. A less likely, but all too possible, scenario if the status quo continues is hyper-inflation. The instability this would create would crush poker, making paper money so undesirable that even gamblers would be forced to tie up as much of their wealth as possible in real assets. I can't see poker surviving in this type of environment. Although, it might be fun to play the nosebleed stakes for a while, albeit with worthless hundred dollar bills.

The only candidate with any real understanding of the monetary system is Ron Paul. He understands that sound money is paramount to a healthy economy and fair to the lower classes. It is impossible to stop or even slow inflation without cutting down the size of government. As long as the country continues to rack up enormous debts paying for welfare and warfare, the risk and coming severity will only increase. Ron Paul is the only candidate on either side of the aisle with any genuine desire to decrease government spending.

Summary

There are countless other avenues I'd like to discuss here, but these are the most important and relevant to poker and poker players in my opinion. I encourage all who are reading to do some independent research and look at the policies of each candidate. You'll find that Obama, Romney, Gingrich, and even Santorum are about 98% aligned on policy decisions. It may be time that we as a nation stop arguing over the 2% of differences, and fight for a real choice.

Now, I'm very aware that Paul is unlikely to win the nomination. Some voters would say, "I'd rather vote for someone who has a chance." However, once you realize that Obama and Romney are really mirror images of one another, the lack of meaning in that so-called choice becomes apparent, and the importance of voting for Paul becomes clear. If Paul isn't the Republican nominee, and doesn't run as a third party, I won't be voting in November.However, if you're an online poker professional and you're looking for a recommendation, AND Paul isn't on the ballot AND there's no space to write him in, I suppose Obama would be your best choice. Just make sure you research investing in gold and other inflationary hedges.