Dick Trail

Opinion

A continued erosion of rights and freedoms

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Mike Hendricks

Sometimes it's possible for Democrats and Republicans to share political common ground and this is one of those times. I share common ground with fellow Gazette columnist Dick Trail and some of the sentiments he expressed last week in his Saturday column; in particular, the smoking ban passed by the Unicameral.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm a smoker but my objections to the ban are more political than personal. One of the hallmarks of the Republican Party has always been less government. The Party has stood for that forever; in fact, it is the seminal difference historically between the two major parties in this country. The Republicans have long believed that the government needs to stay out of people's lives and allow them to fend for themselves. They believe that that is, in fact, the true definition of freedom. That people should be allowed to attain the greatest heights or fall to the deepest depths, depending on their own behavior and the choices they make or don't make.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have long believed that some people from time to time need a helping hand and that it is the government's responsibility to step in and help people who can't help themselves. Sometimes, I agree with this perspective, other times I don't, depending on the situation. I'm not, for example, in favor of constantly throwing a lifeline to people who have sunk to the bottom of the barrel because of bad choices they have made in their lives. I think we should all be prepared to live with the consequences of our actions without constantly expecting someone, i.e. the government, to rescue us from our failings and our mistakes.

But amazingly, in this politically correct society we have become, even the Republicans have fallen victim to this trend. Our lives are micromanaged by more rules, laws, and regulations than ever before in the history of this country and individual freedoms are the greatest casualties.

Which brings me to the statewide smoking ban, passed by our Unicameral that is strongly dominated by the Republican Party. In passing this ban, they are interfering directly with independent business men and women who are trying to make a living in less than favorable economic times. These business people invested their own time and money and effort to fulfill a dream. They bought or built their own restaurant or bar or club, signed on to the many rules and regulations that already existed to control and regulate their business and opened their doors in hopes of pursuing and achieving the American dream.

Then the government comes along and passes a law, after the fact, that mandates no smoking on their premises. On THEIR premises. Privately owned premises, often bought and paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of the small business owners who only want to be left alone to tend to the business the best they can.

But government always seems to know better. Government always seems to have the right answers while the rest of us obviously don't. The government gets caught up in popular social trends it just can't say no to. There's no question smoking isn't the best thing a person can do. It's not healthy. It shortens a person's life expectancy. It smells up the house and smells up your clothes, and yellows your teeth and causes your breath to smell bad. But shouldn't that be our choice?

Shouldn't that be our choice just like it's our choice to exercise or not exercise? To eat healthy or not eat healthy. To drink or not to drink. To sleep too much or not enough. And a thousand other choices we make every single day of our lives.

The people who favor the ban say, of course, that all these other things don't influence THEIR lives but smoking does due to second-hand smoke. I would say to those folks who don't want to be exposed to second-hand smoke to not go where there IS second-hand smoke. Shouldn't the individual business owners make the decision about whether their establishment is smoke-free or not? Even before the citywide smoking ban was passed in Lincoln, there were several bars and many restaurants that were smoke-free so it's not like people didn't have a choice. The same holds true for McCook today. There are smoke-free restaurants and restaurants that allow smoking. There is now even a smoke-free bar in McCook. So if you want to go to a bar without being exposed to second-hand smoke, go to the bar that doesn't allow smoking.

Isn't that our right as American citizens? Isn't that the basic concept of being free; to do what we choose to do as long as it doesn't harm other people against their will?

You've all heard of the establishments in Lincoln that had to close their doors because the smoking ban so negatively affected their business. You've also heard of the other numerous businesses that are working "around" the law so that their smoking patrons won't go someplace else and the same thing will happen all over the state. This ban will encourage patrons and owners to figure out ways around the ban, because their businesses could very well fail if the ban is strictly applied. A ban imposed on them by their own government, even though the government didn't give them the money to start their business, didn't give them the money to maintain their business, and certainly won't reimburse them for the money they will lose if they have to close their business.

If I don't like loud music, I won't go to places that play loud music. If I don't like people drinking in public, I won't go to places where people drink in public. If I don't like dancing, I won't go to places where people dance. It should be my freedom to go to the places I want to go and stay away from the places I don't. And it should be a business owner's freedom to offer the kinds of services his or her customers desire, as long as they don't violate laws that were already in existence when the business began.

But to come along after the fact and impose a ban that will, at the least, hamper a person's business and, at the worst, close it down is simply un-American.