Will Grigg's Liberty Minutes
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Will Grigg’s Liberty Minute

March 2, 2010

In his book Lost Rights, James Bovard observes that in the old Soviet Union, the operative principle of the law was that whatever was not explicitly permitted by the government was forbidden.

Police in Twin Falls, Idaho recently acted on this same principle when they raided a nursing home to break up a long-running poker game.

For at least five years, about twenty residents of the Twin Falls Senior Center had run a poker game with a $20 buy-in, with the pot split evenly among the top chip holders. Obviously, all of the participants were consenting adults, and there is no record of gunfights or other violence erupting over a disputed hand.

Yet some sanctimonious scold, inspired by a Soviet-style vision of civic rectitude, anonymously reported the game to the police. The department defended the raid by claiming that “nothing in Idaho law permits gambling at any age.”

This will surprise people who routinely cough up money to participate in the government-sanctioned gambling called the Idaho State Lottery.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.