"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles."George Jean Nathan
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Everyone would probably agree that people would be better off, if they CHOSE not to: drink alcoholic beverages, use illegal and prescription drugs, smoke cigars and cigarettes, and use other such "substances". Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, the world is far from a perfect place, so many people do choose to use these substances, for a variety of reasons. However, there are people in the world who think that they can create a Utopian society by forcing people not to do these things!
Part of the guarantee given to citizens living in a free society is the right to make their own decisions, about how to live their lives, even if they are bad decisions, and even if they are self-destructive. One of the reasons that it is so obvious that our country is becoming less and less free is that the government is taking many choices away from us!
The Founding Fathers warned us about "special interest" groups. These are groups whose whole reason for existence is to push a very narrow agenda. By definition, they are NOT concerned with the overall good of the country; what is known as "Promoting The General Welfare". They only care about their Cause.
The leaders of special-interest groups make up an elite class of people who believe they know how to run other people's lives better than those people do themselves. It is their mission to change the world to their vision regardless of whether others agree with them, or not. They think they are smarter than the rest of us, and so they think that they know what is good for us! These are the people who think that they can create a Utopian society by controlling the rest of us!
In the 19th Century, a group known as the Women's Christian Temperance Union KNEW that everyone should stop drinking, so they pushed through a constitutional amendment that outlawed alcoholic beverages. During the years that followed, drinking actually increased, through the use of illegal clubs, called Speakeasies, AND organized crime, and its associated crime and violence exploded to previously unheard of levels. The other "benefit" to society was the wide-spread corruption in the government that was necessary to allow these illegal activities to flourish. The bootleggers simply paid off the cops, the judges, the mayors, and other politicians to help their business prosper. The whole society suffered in order to force people to stop drinking!
Many narcotics, and other drugs, were made illegal in the early 20th Century, but it wasn't until the 1960s when a "war on drugs" began. Since then, all of the bad things that happened during Prohibition have been repeating themselves: organized crime has flourished, violence and crime has increased, and the government has been corrupted by the drug dealers. All of this happened, because special-interest groups KNEW that it was "good" to force people to stop using these drugs!
The latest assault, by what Dr. Thomas Sowell calls "The Anointed"; is on the smokers. The new mission is to force people to stop smoking. The first step is to turn almost every place in the country into a no-smoking area. Groups such as The American Cancer Society and the Sierra Club believe that this is a righteous Cause, and they simply don't care if they create more harmful "side-effects" by championing this crusade. Special-interest groups always ignore the harm that was done by other groups, with their Causes, like the examples given above.
It is clear to me
that if we want to retain any semblance of freedom, in this society, people must be allowed to live their lives as they see fit, if they are not hurting anyone but themselves, AND property owners must be allowed to determine how to manage their property without undue interference from the government, or special-interest groups.
In the present controversy, no reasonable case can be made that the owner of any property should be forced to make it a no-smoking environment if he does not CHOOSE to do so. Each owner must assess the desires of his customers, and make the best decision on his smoking policy, based on what they want. If they don't want to enter his business because it is too smoky, they are free to go elsewhere. Likewise, if they want to smoke, when they patronize his business, and he does not allow them to do so, they will find somewhere else to go. They will, that is, IF they live in a free society!
I am NOT a smoker, but I am a music lover, which is why I started Galveston Music Scene. I think that it would be wonderful if all of the clubs and bars in Galveston were smoke free tomorrow. However, I am well aware that at least half, and possibly 70% of the patrons of these clubs are smokers. When I choose to go out to hear live music, I am well aware of the conditions that I will encounter, and I still choose to go. To some extent, the amount of smoke in the clubs does limit the amount of time I spend there, but I have to make those choices.
Regardless of all of the charts and data that the special-interest group pushing for a smoke-free Galveston has to "support" their position, anecdotal evidence from other cities, with smoke-free music clubs; and common sense, say that such an ordinance will hurt our live-music business.
Since many of the regular customers of these clubs are smokers, a no-smoking ordinance will reduce their patronage. Then when they do go to a club, they will spend all of the breaks between sets, and possibly more time than this, outside smoking, where they will NOT be buying drinks!! This will reduce the owner's income!
Since some of our live-music clubs already appear to be in rather fragile financial condition, a no-smoking ordinance, and the changes it will bring, may be just enough to push some of them out of business. This can NOT be a good thing for the City, but, from past history, I'm sure that the proponents have no concern for these businesses and their employees who will be effected by their actions.
I am totally against ANY restriction on the freedom of business owners to determine how they will transact business on their own privately owned property!
This article is available for free use in any publication, as long as the byline is included, the article is reprinted in its entirety, all links in this article and biography remain live at all times, and the publication is NOT any form of SPAM. The article first appeared at: http://www.GalvestonMusicScene.com/Archives/11-08-2005-Non-Smokin g-Live-Music-Clubs.html
About the author:
David Stanowski is the owner and publisher of Galveston Music Scene, a web site with coverage of and commentary on the live music business, with an emphasis on the local music scene in Galveston, Texas.
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