I wish there were a Scripture somewhere to justify forcing people to have good judgment! Edward Rendell, who was national chairman of the Democratic Party and then governor of Pennsylvania, back in the days when he was mayor of Philadelphia, apparently thought that a casino and gambling on every corner would fix the city's financial problems. This disease of the mind has travelled to Georgia and infected Republicans.
Modern politicians are all about spending money for votes. I'm not sure how a casino-funded, means-tested scholarship fund will get Republicans votes, but they may be hoping for casino campaign donations. For that matter, I don't see how it will get Democrats the votes they want, but at least for them it is a self-licking lollipop - middle-class people will gamble and lose (only the house wins), thereby making their children eligible for means-tested scholarships.
If it's any comfort, we went through the casino process in Sullivan County, NY. It took decades, with all the pro-development folks and local politicians on one side, plus state reps, plus Native tribes. Education, religious, recovery people on the other. (This crossed party lines). Finally the casinos arrived. Long story short, one closed its casino operations in 2019, and anecdotally the other was struggling even before covid. Now of course, who knows what will happen? Some people -- I won't even pin it on a party -- see them as a magic fix and they really aren't.
As far as the scholarship goes, good luck. To me it falls in the category (along with pre-K and some social services) where no legislature wants to make the hard decisions when finances are bad. Where do they cut? Gambling funds let them sidestep taking responsibility for the choice (and the funds that previously paid for it go somewhere else). So legislators have their cake and eat it. Until they can't. All you can do is keep agitating, and hope things turn around.
given the current status of the United States we would be better server by less kids being turned into communist by college and universities so if doing away completely with HOPE makes that happen then its a good thing.
I wish there were a Scripture somewhere to justify forcing people to have good judgment! Edward Rendell, who was national chairman of the Democratic Party and then governor of Pennsylvania, back in the days when he was mayor of Philadelphia, apparently thought that a casino and gambling on every corner would fix the city's financial problems. This disease of the mind has travelled to Georgia and infected Republicans.
Modern politicians are all about spending money for votes. I'm not sure how a casino-funded, means-tested scholarship fund will get Republicans votes, but they may be hoping for casino campaign donations. For that matter, I don't see how it will get Democrats the votes they want, but at least for them it is a self-licking lollipop - middle-class people will gamble and lose (only the house wins), thereby making their children eligible for means-tested scholarships.
It's like a lot of things in GA right now, people have just gone crazy. right is wrong - and wrong is right - it what it seems like right now.
Can the Governor veto this bill?
They are trying for a constitutional amendment so he cannot veto it.
Stupid cannot be fixed
If it's any comfort, we went through the casino process in Sullivan County, NY. It took decades, with all the pro-development folks and local politicians on one side, plus state reps, plus Native tribes. Education, religious, recovery people on the other. (This crossed party lines). Finally the casinos arrived. Long story short, one closed its casino operations in 2019, and anecdotally the other was struggling even before covid. Now of course, who knows what will happen? Some people -- I won't even pin it on a party -- see them as a magic fix and they really aren't.
As far as the scholarship goes, good luck. To me it falls in the category (along with pre-K and some social services) where no legislature wants to make the hard decisions when finances are bad. Where do they cut? Gambling funds let them sidestep taking responsibility for the choice (and the funds that previously paid for it go somewhere else). So legislators have their cake and eat it. Until they can't. All you can do is keep agitating, and hope things turn around.
given the current status of the United States we would be better server by less kids being turned into communist by college and universities so if doing away completely with HOPE makes that happen then its a good thing.