Gary Robertson has written an article titled, "Smoking Foes Still Win in 2007." A more accurate title would be "Freedom loses again in NC." If you're a self-proclaimed "smoking foe," you ARE anti-freedom, whether you want to admit it or not.

The article talks about "health advocates" (read: people who want to control your life and tell you what you should have the freedom to do) and their optimism in reducing smoking (or decreasing your choices to be free). The article goes on to describe how people are "more health conscious." That's not quite true -- if you force someone to do something, you haven't changed their mind, you've just used force or the threat of force to convince them to do something.

One of the few representatives who may understand a little about how government is supposed to work, Rep. Nelson Cole of Rockingham County said that restaurant owners already have the freedom to ban smoking if they want to. But he still supported banning smoking just about everywhere else. Smoking outdoors was banned in only a few places, not the entire state -- just yet.

Look, if smoking is so bad, make it illegal. Seriously. This crap about banning it in some private places and some public places is just wrong. Where can one smoke today? Well, you can't really tell any more. Sometimes smoking outdoors is a crime, sometimes it's not. And studies still have shown that there are no serious adverse effects to second-hand smoke -- yet that's still sold as a way to reduce freedom.

If you, personally, don't like smoking, that's fine. Don't smoke. But you are absolutely destroying freedom by telling others that they cannot smoke. That's just wrong. But then, North Carolina today is not a place where freedom is welcome.

Posted by: Ogre at 11:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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