All your Biz are belong to us

For those of you living in the exceedingly misnamed Golden City that is the capital of Kansas there's a new assault on the ideal of private property. It's called the smoking ban.

Basically the smoking ban is exactly as it sounds. The city council, nine people, decided that business owners aren't smart enough to make their own decisions as to what activities their customers can engage in. They decided that, in the interest of "public health", smoking cannot be allowed except in certain types of businesses.

The many letters to the editor regarding this all seem to be harping on the idea of smokers rights versus non-smokers rights. I hate to break it to those people but this is NOT about smokers or non-smokers. It's about whether or not owners of private property or businesses have the right to control their own property or business.

There is currently a petition to get the ordinance up for a public vote but I have a problem with that as well. We, as voters, have no right to tell a property owner what legal activities their customers can engage in. Last I checked, as long as you're over 18, smoking is a legal activity. It's the owners choice as to whether or not they'll allow smokers the freedom to light up or not. I don't have the right to walk into a restaurant and demand a smoking section so what makes non-smokers think they have the right to demand a non-smoking section?

Simply put we are becoming more of a nanny state ever day. This is being couched in terms that remove it further and further away from the actual issue. Down this road lies states like California where you can be tickets for smoking in your backyard if a neighbor complains about the smoke.

Bottom line, we all have the ability to choose what businesses we deem worthy of our business. If there's a restaurant that doesn't allow smoking it's my choice to frequent that establishment or not. The same goes for non-smokers. If you don't like the smoke then stop going. If the business falls off enough the owner will change their policies in order to stay in business.

What will you non-smokers do when your favorite bars or restaurants start losing business and eventually close because those 'evil' smokers have stopped spending their money at those same bars and restaurants? Will you demand the city council pass an ordinance that those same bars and restaurants stay in business? After all, it's about your rights and not the business owners.

Here's my message to all the non-smokers that are zealous about defending the ban: go fuck yourselves. I will not allow you, or some half-assed body of lying, two-faced SOB's, to dictate what I can do on my property.

LFD

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