I can choose for myself, thank you
Kenosha residents who truly believe in freedom of choice had a shining moment last week Tuesday when a bare majority of voters opposed an unfair and intrusive smoking ban referendum. The referendum was held as an advisory, non-binding survey of City of Kenosha residents and is supposed to influence the direction of the Kenosha City Council—a council comprised of 17 Alderman from each of Kenosha’s 17 Districts—who are supposed to vote on the proposed ordinance on Nov. 24.
The ordinance, titled “Smoking Prohibited,” seeks to make it unlawful for individuals to smoke tobacco products in virtually all public places, including workplaces. The motivation for the ordinance is, of course, health related.
Proponents of the smoking ban have argued that because second hand smoke is dangerous it should be removed from all places an average citizen, smoking or non, is able to go. This would even include clubs and taverns. Similar bans have passed throughout other select cities and states in the country, including the city of Madison, WI back in 2005.
Now, I am not a smoker and I do not particularly enjoy inhaling second-hand smoke, but these facts have absolutely nothing to do with whether others should have the option to inhale as much hazardous, cancerous smoke as they wish inside a privately owned building. Last I checked my lungs are in no way affected by the amount of carbon monoxide ingested by the thousands of smokers packing themselves into small, poorly ventilated watering holes night after night in this town. And, in all my years in this city, I have never been forced into an establishment where inhaling second hand smoke was an inevitable and inescapable certainty. Amazingly, through my own volition, I have been able to navigate my way in and out of restaurants, bars and bowling alleys with the threat of second-hand smoke looming large without once feeling trapped by the tobacco exhaust of those smoking nuisances in the area. If I didn’t want to be around second-hand smoke, I, being the genius that I am, simply declined to go into those places! That way, I breathed the cleanest air nature had to offer, and the smokers breathed as much polluted air as their little lungs could bear (or not bear, as the case might be). This has always been a wonderful exhibition of freedom of choice and a demonstration of how individuals of different lifestyles could coexist harmoniously in a shared environment.
Apparently, others don’t see it this way.
The developing nation-wide trend of banning smoking in private establishments is an unsettling step towards the increase of the size and scope of governmental intervention within the private sector, and it is at the expense of individual choice. The founding ideals of this purportedly “free nation” of ours is that individuals can live their lives however they see fit so long as they do not forcibly do harm to others. This ideal respects the right of all individuals to determine their own lifestyle, no matter how unpleasant or unsavory their chosen lifestyle might be. A noteworthy example of this is the right to freedom of expression—everyone (ideally) has the right to express his or her opinion no matter how vile or distasteful that opinion might be…but no one has to listen. In a similar vein, private business owners ought to have the right to run a business in whatever way they choose, so long as they do not force others to go along with it. As a potential customer, I have the option not to visit a smoke-filled bar; and as an employee, I can choose not to work in a smoky environment. What’s more is that I can even tell a local business owner that I will refrain from awarding that establishment my business unless the establishment accommodates my needs. Since the business owner ought to have the freedom to choose how he conducts his business, he can very easily voluntarily ban smoking from his establishment. The business owner, through the free exchange of ideas, can choose to supply what I demand. No government required. In my mind, this is exactly how the free market is supposed to operate.
Fortunately, the citizens of Kenosha have chosen to preserve the ideal of free choice, and have advised our City Council to reject this unnecessary augmentation of governmental dominion. However, there is still the possibility of a statewide smoking ban down the line that could supercede the will of the people of this city, and supplant the individual’s right to live their chosen lifestyle. I encourage all to seriously consider the implications of such a sweeping legislative act, and to resist the temptation to force others to conform to your preferred way of life. It doesn’t matter how noble you might think it is to take someone else’s health into your own hands, you nevertheless have no right to tell another person what he or she is allowed to do with his or her own body in a free country.
November 19th, 2008 at 13:21
I am actually astonished that this ban did not pass. Almost everyone I know wanted this thing to go through. The people of this country seem to have lost sight of what freedom is. Communist ideals are being ushered in with arms wide open. I believe it is just a matter of time until bans like this are commonplace. 2012.