Republican presidential candidate Rubio under attack for supporting RAWA

A spokesman for the US action group Campaign for Liberty has launched an attack on Republican presidential hopeful Mark Rubio for his support in the US Senate of the Restoration of America’s Wire Act, a measure intended to ban online gambling in the United States and introduced to the Senate recently by Sen. Lindsey Graham (see previous reports).

Norm Singleton, a senior vice president of the action group, claimed in an email: “Marco Rubio talks a lot about liberty… But his actions don’t match his words…if Marco Rubio really believes in individual liberty and limited government than why does he want to let government:

* Spy on your phone and Internet use without a warrant;

* Force you to carry a National ID card containing sensitive biometric information;

* Make you subsidize his favorite crony capitalists.”

Singleton says that The Campaign for Liberty and other libertarian-leaning organisations and legislators oppose Sen. Graham’s S. 1668 because it gives the federal government new powers to spy on and control more of the Internet in order to stop individuals from gambling online instead of going to brick and mortar casinos.

In what appears to be a not-so-veiled reference to billionaire land casino owner and major Republican Party donor, Sheldon Adelson,  who is widely believed to be the impetus behind RAWA, Singleton alleged that the real intent of RAWA is to outright prohibit certain types of Internet gambling “a single billionaire casino mogul” is not invested in.

“Several media reports indicate that Senator Rubio is supporting this bill as part of his effort to get that billionaire to help fund his 2016 campaign!” Singleton claims, although he acknowledges that Rubio has denied this.

Nevertheless, Adelson’s clout through his GOP political donations will inevitably cast a shadow over Republican political support for RAWA.

He goes on to opine that RAWA tramples on states’ powers reserved to them under the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution to legalise Internet gambling if as individual states they wish to do so.

Such interference by the federal government in state affairs sets dangerous precedents for the future, he claims.

Singleton’s attack follows similar criticism of Adelson interference in internet gambling by former Republican Rep. Ron Paul, who in an op-ed piece last year warned land gambling tycoon to stop using his Congressional clout to get online gambling banned.

Paul wrote: “It is an open secret, at least inside the Beltway, that this legislation is being considered as a favor to billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson. Mr. Adelson, who is perhaps best known for using his enormous wealth to advance a pro-war foreign policy, is now using his political influence to turn his online competitors into criminals.”

Commenting on the issue, the publication ConservativeHQ observed:

“Of course, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham claim you have nothing to worry about if you don’t gamble, but that’s the same kind of stuff they peddled about the NSA’s telephone surveillance program, and that was proven to be a complete lie.

“From our perspective the one point in Singleton’s email that really rings true, that should concern liberty-lovers in every state, is that S. 1668’s scheme to make it a federal crime to gamble online will also expand the surveillance state’s reach over the Internet.”

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