Liberty Maven

Ron Paul, in speaking about H.R. 4411 (The Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act) said the following:

History, from the failed experiment of prohibition to today’s futile “war on drugs,” shows that the government cannot eliminate demand for something like Internet Gambling simply by passing a law.

He, naturally, voted against the act in July of 2006.  Fast forward a few months and the bipartisan backed extremely popular SAFE Port Act readies for passage.  Bill Frist and other supporters of H.R. 4411 decide to go all in with the SAFE Port act at the last minute in order to push the legislation through.  It worked.

Ron Paul even found it in himself to vote ‘YES’ this time around. I believe it is because he values protecting our borders (ports) more than he enjoys a nice game of online holdem. In fact in the same speech speaking out against H.R. 4411 he stated the following:

I happen to personally strongly oppose gambling.
I think it is pretty stupid, to tell you the truth.

That taken out of contest may seem like he is for the bill.  Of course, the fact that he voted for the bill when it was part of the SAFE Port act makes me question his motives.  If anyone has a quote from Dr. Paul on why he voted for the SAFE Port act I’d like to hear it.

In this rare case, Ron Paul has let me down, but I can understand why he would support a bill to protect our ports.  I just wish, and perhaps he does too, that he didn’t have to implicitly support something he spoke out against just months prior.