Stealing in the name of ...

Here the government is at it again, making criminals out of honest men.  This time it is the US government that has seized $250,000 from Robert Fellner, a professional poker player living in Las Vegas, because it (i.e. the government) has outlawed online poker.  It’s a great clip.  Instead of worrying about his own money worth 163 ounces of gold, or R1.7 million, that has been effectively stolen from him by the government, Robert focuses on the principles of freedom and the gross loss of liberty in the US over the past decade.  Note his Murray Rothbard t-shirt easily obtainable from the Mises Store.

Sadly, this is just another display of how the state institutionalises violence.  Having decided poker is ‘bad,’ it outlaws the sport and just steals Robert’s property, his legitimate personal savings. No private citizen may unilaterally decide playing golf is ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ and steal a professional golfer’s earnings.  Why does the state have the right to just steal someone else’s money?

On another note, there’s always the argument by the liberal interventionists that online gambling and poker should be banned, because it leads to many disrupted families as bread winners spend and lose bread money on gambling.  What is always ignored, however, is that some people earn a living off of it.  How will Robert, with extensive experience and skill as an online poker player, now support his person and family?

Enemy of the State

(h/t Mises Blog)