The Powerball lottery is a multi-state lottery that often grows to an astronomical pot of money.  Take the most recent Powerball jackpot, one person in Florida holds the winning ticket of a payout of $590.5 million dollars.  After taxes if the winner chose the one-time payout, he/she will receive $376.9 million dollars after taxes.  Am I the only person in the country that has a huge problem with this?  Liberals hate conservatives because they believe they don’t care about the common man.  In reality, conservatives care very much about the common man and the best way to help him is to help him, help himself.  That, opposed to “let’s give food stamps and welfare and keep people dependent on the government.” That’s how dysfunctional Europe does business.  Very different approaches. Lotteries, particularly this lottery are troubling for several reasons.  First, people from all over the country buy tickets that in some cases, they can’t afford to purchase.  The odds of winning Powerball, are 175 million to 1.  That means the odds of almost anything else in the world occurring, is greater than the odds of winning Powerball.  That includes being struck by lighting, winning American Idol or becoming a millionaire simply by working.  Second, hoping to get rich by picking numbers is not the answer for success for 99.9% of the country.  The slogan “you gotta be in it to win it” is nonsense.  The message should be, the way to win is to stay in school and find a profession and work hard.  The quick rich approach is simply wrong.  The third reason I have an issue with Powerball is the incredible amount of money raised that serves no purpose.  If one lottery can raise almost $600 millions dollars, then why aren’t we developing ways of raising that much money and then investing it where we really need it; infrastructure, low-income housing and in the fight against hunger.  Sounds fairly liberal I suppose but no decent person would think those aren’t legitimate goals.  What’s conservative about it, is we shouldn’t involuntarily take other people’s money when there are millions of people who are willingly volunteering it.  So what I propose is capping the lottery winnings at $100 million dollars.  The tax man then gets his share.  Everything left, goes in to a fund that can only be used for the above mentioned purposes.  The $100 million dollar cap will be more than enough enticement to keep people playing.  And all of the money raised and placed in to the account will be from money that people chose to give by buying a chance to win the big money.  Can anyone propose a better way to support and help our infrastructure and fellow citizens?