Just Say NO to Smoking Ban

Per the News-Gazette, both Champaign and Urbana will consider a general SMOKING BAN in May. This courtesy of the high-minded folks at the "C-U Smoke Free Alliance" (just who is an 'ally' of the Alliance is not clear to me).

This is just another example of a vocal minority seeking to impose its will on everyone else. It can be an effective strategy, if the minority is seeking to curtail an activity that doesn't involve a right or activity that is important to most people. Public bodies and civic boards are impressed that 100 people show up at their meeting to advocate the will of the minority. They may not realize that the "silent majority" is simply not moved enough to speak their mind, they may not have unbiased facts on the topic, and they may get worn down by repeated attempts.

Say that the "Alliance" decides that chain saws smoke too much too, and petitions local city councils to ban them, too:
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"I can't be around the exhaust from those gasoline engines. If they are trimming trees in the park, I can't go there."

"Why do they have to use gas engines, can't they use electric?"

"It's not fair for the workers using those chain saws; they shouldn't have to inhale fumes all day while working with their chain saw."

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Anyway, 50 professional activists show up at the City Council meeting. The only people who show up to oppose the ban are 4 people who happen to own landscaping / tree trimmng businesses.

Meanwhile, 60,000 others sit at home, unmotivated by the issue, but believing that chain saws are not the devil incarnate.

City council members who are so inclined listen to the 60 who show up, and imagine they are a burgeoning grass roots movement. "They make some good points. Everyone should be able to go outside and not listen to chain saws or suck in their exhaust."

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You know, other people do lots of things that I wouldn't do. And they do lots of things that I don't like. And they do lots of things that aren't good for them. And they do things that keep me from going places and doing things that I might otherwise be inclined to do.

Yet, I don't seek to rein in people from exercising their freedoms, even if I don't like what it is they do. I don't do it because, as we are all so fond of saying, IT IS A FREE COUNTRY. Government in this country doesn't regulate behavior unless it has a compelling interest in doing so.

I haven't heard the compelling interest yet. Just a bunch of whining about the 'rights of non-smokers.' Yah, just what we need; another special interest group (full of victims).

Oh, by the way, I am neither a shill for Big Tobacco nor a smoker. I just hate to have to listen to the whiny vocal minority in their quest for attention. And, according to the American Lung Association, about 21% of adults in the U.S. are smokers.