One of the more significant political nannies, Mayor Bloomberg of NYC, in one of his first acts of "I know what's best for you, so there", pushed through a smoking ban six years ago.
It is being widely flouted.
I'm not a smoker. Personally, I like being able to eat in a restaurant or have an drink somewhere and not come home smelling like an ash tray. Last month, I went to a show at one of the CT casinos; the casino does a fantastic job of air purifying, but even so, just walking around (not through) the Floor of Losers in order to get to the entrance to the theater was enough that I could smell tobacco smoke on my clothes when I got home.
But that doesn't mean that I think the government has any business compelling other people to conform to my wishes in discretionary activities. I am a little more ambivalent about the workers in those businesses, though, as there is a worker health/safety issue.
My bottom line is that I think that government should stay as far away from the legislating morality business as is possible. And yes, it tickles me no end when professional nannies like Hizzoner da Mare are unable to make the sheeple conform ot his sense of what is proper.
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3 comments:
I was on our local board of health when this became an issue in Massachusetts. When the state imposed a state-wide ban, the task of enforcement fell to us. Thankfully, the restaurants in town respected the ban and created places where smokers could go. I don't see this a regulating morality; it is about health. I don't want to get sick from second hand smoke and, if I do, I don't want to add the costs onto others' insurance premiums.
There's trying to legislate morality and then there's trying to keep up with the times and implement the will of the majority by way of improving things on a broad scale.
Here in Ontario, Canada, we banned smoking in public areas years ago. the restraunts and bars spent tens of thousands of dollars (Yeah, yeah, I know, Canadian dollars, big whoopie), creating separate smoking areas. Then a year later the government forbid smoking in public establishments totally.
BTW, I am a non smoker but I despise government control on such a small scale. Governments, hear me, stick to the big issues!
Great blog, I have to add it to my list of faves even if I only follow boat blogs...
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