Saturday, December 02, 2006

Why non-smokers should care about the new non-smoking ban

In Allen County, you now have the right to clog your arteries in a smoke free enviroment. How long before they take away trans-fats like they did in New York City? Some continue to advocate applying the smoking ban to bars, so that people can damage their liver and kill off their own brain cells without having to worry about second hand smoke. They tried Prohibition once, they might try it again.

People do not go to bars to drink; they can stay home and get plastered. They go to hang out with other people who drink, and possibly hook up with someone who is carrying a venereal disease. How many of our bad habits do politicians plan to break for us?

I am a non-smoker, non-drinker in a monogamous relationship. My sole vice is my diet of junk and fast food. My life is as bland as an Al Gore speech. I do not need the government's help in making my health choices. What I fear is that new laws drawn up in the name of protecting public health will set the precedent for other laws designed to protect the people from themselves.

4 comments:

  1. Robert, if ever there was a valid argument for the "slippery slope" this is it. You are 100% correct...non-smokers should be just as concerned of this ordinance.

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  2. Robert,

    I'd be careful how you phrase the "bland life" statement. My wife often gets rather irritated with me when I refer to my life as "ordinary," because of the fact that she is an integral part of said life, and therefore takes offense to the classification (she fails to understand that I was once rather rowdy and cavalier).

    I can tell you from some long past experiences that when a "significant other" feels that you classify the time you spend together as "bland" or "uneventful" or "boring," they will most certainly start spending time with someone (or several someones) else that find(s) them to be somewhat more than a boilerplate companion.

    Just a little advice, for what it's worth.

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  3. I was exagerrating when I said "bland".

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