GoodMidwestBoy's Blog

This seems like a scary issue to me.  For the record, I'm not a smoker, and I don't like it when somebody lites up next to me.  Both of my parents smoked in the house I grew up in, and I'd rather not be around it any more than I have to.  That being said, it makes me nervous when the government (at any level) restricts a right like this.  I do like to enjoy a beer while watching a football game.  How long before that right is removed?  To me, this is a mix between being a health issue and morality.  I can appreciate that our leaders want to protect our health and the well being of the environment or atmosphere of our city, but please don't decide for me.  Last time I checked, I'm an adult and can willingly remove myself from any establishment that I don't want to be a patron of.  That business owner could lose my money, and it is his prerogative to do so.  It might be in his best financial interest to lose my business in favor of 20 other people.  That's the basis of free-market capitalism.  I believe it is important for the government to stay out of this issue.  Again, I can understand why restaurants have to have designated smoke-free areas, that's a matter of health code, but to go to such extremes as to restrict smoking indoors at all establishments seems silly to me.  Don't our leaders have more pressing issues to tend to?