When I watched Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before the U.S. Congress yesterday, I was inspired. I was inspired not only by a great speech by one of the few politicians I respect, but also by an unscripted moment that happened during the speech.

While Netanyahu was speaking, a Code Pink protester interrupted him to shout something about Zionists and something comparing him to Hitler or something crazy like that. In other words, it was exactly what you expect to hear from Code Pink. After she was removed from the building so Netanyahu could resume his speech, he took a moment to praise his heckler.

“I take it as a badge of honor, and so should you, that in our free societies you can have protests,” he said. “You can’t have these protests in the farcical parliaments in Tehran or in Tripoli. This is real democracy!”

It was a powerful moment. Unfortunately for Code Pink, they accidentally reaffirmed the message of Netanyahu’s speech. He’s absolutely right. I disagree with Code Pink, but it is great that in America (and Israel), you can protest and interrupt a head of state like that without fear. Voltaire famously said “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Protest, petitioning the government, and free speech are staples of American society.

For that reason, I am proud of the contingent of poker players, some of them professional, that went to Washington, D.C. to protest the Black Friday crackdown on online poker. On Tuesday, the Poker Player’s Alliance held a rally outside the Capitol. Chairman of the PPA Alfonse D’Amato spoke at the rally. The former Republican senator said that poker players are “deeply concerned about losing our rights.” He said that the issue is about “rights of what you can do in your own home on your own time.”

Some have said that Black Friday wasn’t an anti-gambling move by the Department of Justice. After all, they say, most of the indictments were for bank fraud and money laundering. That’s true, but there were also indictments for operating an illegal gambling business. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that federal law bans online gambling, most likely citing UIGEA, which doesn’t actually do that.

D’Amato said that the purpose of the rally was for Washington to see the faces of those affected. Online poker players aren’t simply statistics on your spreadsheets or screen names. They are real people who are really losing their rights because of the government overstepping its authority in a quest to control the people.

The government may think they can do whatever they want and steamroll over the opposition, but they can’t. The freedom of Americans is under attack, but we can fight back at the ballot box and in the protest march. Every time protesters speak out, they remind the government that it is the voters who wield the true power in a republic. It may be frustrating when it seems like you are ignored, but speaking out is important and over time, it can bring about great changes. Yesterday’s online poker rally in Washington is a good start.

Ah, government regulation. Many online poker players and proponents of online casinos support governments regulating online gambling because that gives them easier access to the games. In some countries, it would also take a currently illegal activity and make it legal. There is a problem that goes along with government regulation, though. Actually, there are many problems, but a major one is money. You see, governments aren’t going to regulate an industry out of the kindness of their hearts. They do it for tax revenue.

France recently opened up their online gambling market to foreign operators so online casinos based overseas could attract French customers. This was seen as a victory for supporters of online gambling in France. However, the legislation also mandated a 2% tax increase on all new online gambling sites. Those are sites that are new or new to the French market. For that reason, all overseas online casinos that entered the French market were slapped with a 2% tax increase.

Liberals and other people who know nothing about business would say, “So what? Those rich casinos can afford to pay more money. I don’t care if their taxes went up, since it doesn’t affect me.” The problem is, whenever you raise taxes on businesses it does affect you. It affects anyone who is a customer or partner of that business and anyone employed by that business. When hit with a higher tax, businesses will usually pass that extra cost on to their customers. That is exactly what online casinos are doing.

Most online poker sites operating in the French market have increased the rake by 2%. Some of those casinos and poker rooms are reporting rakes as high as 7.7%. That means it is costing the online poker players a lot of money and they are not too happy about it.

To protest the higher rakes, many online poker players have organized “sit out” protests. This method has the players signing up at poker tables but then refusing to play. With them occupying the table, no one else can take their spot and the casino loses money. Their goal is to force the online casinos and poker rooms to lower the rake percentage. The casinos, however, say that they have been losing money ever since France enacted the new gambling laws and instituted the tax increase and the only way they can remain profitable is to increase the rake.

And there you have the problem. The government running an industry is always bad for the industry, but it’s even worse for the consumers. The poker players don’t want to pay the high rake, but it’s necessary for the casinos to stay in business thanks to the tax hike by the government. Without that additional tax revenue, though, the government would not allow the casinos to operate in their country. It is a situation where nobody wins.