The anti-freedom monkeys are in another flinging frenzy. They just can’t accept the notion that freedom enables individual variance in lifestyles. Couple this with complete ignorance of individual rights or economics and the result is their attempt to regulate existence.

I’m amazed at how quickly people will condone the trampling of others at whim. This little gem is one of the most offensive justifications I’ve heard.

Statesville resident Eric Lamberth, a smoker, said he supports the ban because he believes it would help him kick the habit. [emphasis mine]

Unbelievable - the condonement of Government tyranny as means to compensate for his lack of self-control and discipline.

Restaurants are private property. The property owners are the only individuals who can rightfully determine the smoking policies for their property. The purpose of Government is to protect individual rights from being forcefully violated. Since customers are free to choose whether they accept the smoking policies of a particular dining establishment or not - no rights are being forcefully violated. Any law that trumps an owner’s smoking policy prerogative is an unjust slap in the face of America’s essence.

Your rights end when you are unable to keep your smoke away from my nose.

Only if we’re on your property.

The typical debate surrounding this non-issue rests on a fundamental error. This issue is not about the rights of individuals to smoke, nor about a supposed “right” to fresh air; but rather the right of property owners to set the terms for acceptable behavior on their premises. There is no “right” to fresh air. The only right that applies to consumers in this scenario is your right to not be forced to be exposed to air quality that you find unacceptable. So long as an individual chooses to enter the property of others (as opposed to someone forcing them to be there) they do so under the acceptance of the owner’s terms.

This, like all economic issues, is one that a free-market would solve far more effectively. If consumer demand for smoke-free environments rose to the point where such an offering were profitable, then the market would supply such. Instead, our culture is oblivious to the concept of rights and their fundamental role in making America the most prosperous country in the history of mankind. Rights equal freedom and freedom has a brilliantly clear historical record of raising man’s standard of living. To the extent that we chip away at freedom by violating real rights in favor of supposed rights, we destroy what made America.

As Don Watkins of ARC put it:

This widespread war on smoking [sic] is infecting America with a political disease far worse than any health risk caused by smoking; it is destroying our freedom to make our own judgments and choices.

Well said.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 11:26 am and is filed under Rights, Economics, Subjective Law, Nonsense. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.