Fickle Marylanders

Ocean City, Maryland has been going back and forth on the slots legalization debate. They have already had periods where slot machines are legal, and up until last November, they had gone back and made them illegal once more. It seems that the residents of Maryland simply can’t make up their minds on the merits of the gambling, and quite possibly might be due to the ingrained Puritanical past that this country was built upon.

Ever since the beginning of the United States, there has been a prevalent presence of a very conservative mindset, whether it was based on Catholic or Protestant or Puritanical ideas. It has always tempered all of the craziness going on, and has been in varying degrees in the last century. Strangely enough, the youth of the 1920s and the 1960s and 70s were more outrageous and liberated that those of today, and perhaps since uncertain times make people long for the days of yesterday, people today are much more conservative than they have been in a long time.

Gambling is one of the things that a conservative culture frowns upon, regardless of the possible positive outcomes. Especially unfortunate for slot machine lovers everywhere, many states still have laws against the activity. Maryland, however, finally decided to get with the program and legalize slots again, but is remains safe to say that they just might make them illegal again, since it wouldn’t be the first time the residents of that state change their minds about slots.

Back to January 2009 Archive.