Voice For Liberty

Smoking is healthier than fascism

Bob Weeks

in

There’s a Facebook group named Vote NO on Statewide Smoking Ban (Smoking is healthier than fascism). Started by Wichita activist Wendy Aylworth, the description of the group starts with the rallying cry “We must stop this tyranny of the majority!”

Yes, we must.

I’m tempted to tell you — like many people do when discussing matters of public policy — whether I smoke cigarettes. But does that matter?

It shouldn’t, because if it does, we shift the basis of policy decisions from “what is right and just and promotes freedom and liberty” to “what is my personal preference.” And there’s too much of that going on.

Smoking bans are only the start of increased government regulation of more and more aspects of our lives. These things can backfire. As government control becomes more pervasive, smoking ban busybodies may well find themselves coming under onerous regulation that they don’t like. Once started, it’s hard for government to stop.

We ought to remember the words of C.S. Lewis: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

For more articles from this site on smoking bans and the harm they cause, click here.

Comments

4 responses to “Smoking is healthier than fascism”

  1. jay

    How do you feel about the state conducting health inspections of restaurants? Do you feel tyrannized by making the cook wash his hands after he returns from the bathroom?

  2. dr

    My problem with the smoking bans is as bob outlines. But, If tobacco is a hazardous substance, which it is, then ban tobacco as such! They have banned lead, asbestos and a myriad of other dangerous and harmful substances from consumer products….cigarettes are no different. Do not control business owners by the force of govt. and tell them how to run their business , restricting otherwise lawful acts in the name of public health and safety.
    I support the banning of the product, that is actually within the role of govt. to a certain degree, but I cannot support legislation that impinges on the freedom of individuals, and that is what local/state bans are doing.

  3. Dismal Scientist

    It is not the job of the government to tell me what I can or cannot put in my body. It is up to the individual as what substance he or she wants to ingest as long as the effect of the substance does cause them to harm another individual. I am all for clean restaurants but the city or state government does not have to do it! They are luck to inspect an establishment once a year! Did you know that the U.S. Federal Government does not certify electrical devices? Have you ever heard of Underwriter’s Laboratory? They certify most electrical products in the US and they are a private organization! The very same thing could be done with restaurants and done much better by the true free market.

  4. harleyrider1978

    We all remember reading about alcohol prohibition,but did you know there was also tobacco prohibition going on before alcohol became such a target of the last nanny staters.
    Our great grandparents lived thru prohibition and the great depression,they also lived thru tobacco prohibition.

    Heres a time line starting in 1900,dont be surprised to see the same thing playing out today nearly 100 years later.

    1901: REGULATION: Strong anti-cigarette activity in 43 of the 45 states. “Only Wyoming and Louisiana had paid no attention to the cigarette controversy, while the other forty-three states either already had anti-cigarette laws on the books or were considering new or tougher anti-cigarette laws, or were the scenes of heavy anti- cigarette activity” (Dillow, 1981:10).

    1904: New York: A judge sends a woman is sent to jail for 30 days for smoking in front of her children.

    1904: New York City. A woman is arrested for smoking a cigarette in an automobile. “You can’t do that on Fifth Avenue,” the arresting officer says.

    1907: Business owners are refusing to hire smokers. On August 8, the New York Times writes: “Business … is doing what all the anti-cigarette specialists could not do.”

    1917: SMOKEFREE: Tobacco control laws have fallen, including smoking bans in numerous cities, and the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho and Tennessee.

    1933: hitler institutes laws against smoking.This one you can google.

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