The financial appeal is forthright. Maryland did not legalize gambling to expand the realm of personal autonomy. It collects a 61 percent tax on slot machine revenue. Colorado expects about $114 million in taxes and fees during its first year of marijuana legalization. “If Colorado is able to rake in substantial amounts of tax revenue,” according to one news account, “legalization advocates’ pitches to legislatures in Oregon, Massachusetts and Alaska become that much easier.”

Consider the perspective of a state legislator. Your state has incurred a variety of unfunded obligations. Voting to raise taxes might cost you your job. Legalizing gambling or pot, in contrast, will bring in new revenue and perhaps new campaign donations. And some people will call it the advance of freedom!

This is a tribute to a hardy weed — in this case, the hardy weed of government, which can grow in any political environment. If you are a progressive who wants universal health coverage, government expands. If you are a libertarian who wants people to be able to waste their money at casinos, or smoke and ingest whatever they damn well please, government expands as well.