Being Anti

Comment by Troy Brumley

This allows the states and localities to define the sort of life they want, and then people and businesses move to the places that suit them best. Competition is a good thing :)

Troy: It's not the job of government to "define the sort of life they want". That decision is best left to the individual to make. You call it "competition". I call it the tyranny of the majority (or at least the vocal minority).

<rant>

This is complete idiocy on so many levels.

1) Housing prices have gone up continuously since smoking was banned in California.  Gee, what a revelation.  It was a SMOKING BAN that caused the housing boom!  And silly ol' me, I always thought it was supply and demand.  You know, demand exceeding supply causes prices to rise.  I guess that only works for OTHER things.  In housing, it's the government banning smoking that causes prices to rise.  But here on Long Island, where I live, we have no such smoking ban, and our prices have risen also, just as much as the California prices have risen.  I guess we have to investigate what the benevolent local governments have done HERE to cause that.  Maybe it was the vehicle confiscation law, which allows the police to sieze (and keep!) your car if you are arrested for DWI.  Yeah, that MUST be it.

2) Remember the old parable about the nazis ... "First they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.  Then they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Communist" ... You can draw a parallel here.  First, they banned smoking, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a smoker. Eventually, if you allow the government to ban behavior that you don't engage in, eventually they'll ban behavior that you DO engage in. 

3) Walk into your local City Council meeting, or your local County board meeting, or whatever government entity you prefer, and ask yourself whether you want those people making the decisions WRT how you live your life.  Or do you want to live your life based on your own decisions?  Gee, I wonder if the government thinks I should have asparagus or corn with dinner tonight?

</rant>

My mother suffers from emphysema (as does my dad) and she's never smoked a day in her life. My dad's been smoking since he was 12.

My objection to other people smoking isn't about their right to do what they want to their bodies (btw, why can't I smoke crack? It's my body), it's about what they do to me.

People don't object to the government cracking down on drunk drivers, even though it's statistically insignificant that any one person will ever be involved in an accident due to a drunk driver. Why is it different for smoking?

The cure for smoking: set the price to $20/pack.

Sean

Comment by James Robertson

If you raise the price that much, you'll generate smuggling. My worry is exactly what I said above: what will the "it's not good for you" crowd go after next? Will I be unable to buy french fries at some point, due to the damage I do to society by incrementally raising general health care costs? Is that an over-reaction to smoking bans? Maybe, but ask me again in a decade.

Only one thing to say: http://www.lp.org

I guess Scoble has never been to Denmark. Or to Switzerland. Swiss women go dancing in high heels, a drink in one hand, a pocket book over a shoulder, and a cigarette in the other. I do not know how they juggle all of this at all, much less keep lighting the next cigarette! The bars vary -- many have very clear air, but others have thick smoky air of Scoble's hell.

But that's just Swizterland. And not even the whole of it, just the tiny portion I have seen. Overall, I am not sure why people rush so quickly to make generalizations about entire countries, much less entire continents. Is this something that changed over my lifetime, or do I simply notice it more nowadays?