Lottery fever hit staunchly conservative South Carolina last year, resulting in the voters approving a statewide lottery referendum in the November general election. I know firsthand that the citizens of my native state weren t overly enthusiastic about the gambling, it s just that the mushy-middle swing voters wanted to neutralize the perceived stigma of the Confederate flag boycott and the Bob Jones University demonization, so they voted for the lottery to look progressive. Trust me on that one. How ironic that our sister state to the south was made to feel embarrassed by an inanimate symbol of cloth, but not for establishing state-sponsored gambling with which to tempt and fool those who can least afford it. We rednecks don t have those - we just play the lottery.
Lotteries are a brazen example of condescension by the power elite.
Some North Carolinians are embarrassed to be Tobacco Road. That s debatable. At least tobacco is grown and sold privately. But establishing state-run gambling as a solution to anything is something for which a state should really be embarrassed.