33 Responses to “Post-Reductio America”

1. #1 |  Chris Farley |  November 19th, 2003 at 8:35 am

   Excellent. This is probably the best article you’ve ever written.

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2. #2 |  Kieffer |  November 19th, 2003 at 9:14 am

   Great article…. will Fox News be running this one?

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3. #3 |  Dani |  November 19th, 2003 at 10:16 am

   Very effective article, and it used rhetoric tactfully. I like it.

   I’m beginning to see people in two different lights. There are those who understand and desire freedom even at the risk of having to deal with a few yokels who take advantage of it, and then there are those who think that society needs their help in being/staying safe and healthy. Are the former (we/us) the minority? And what in the heck are we supposed to do to stop these “do-gooders”?

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4. #4 |  Brendan |  November 19th, 2003 at 10:39 am

   And yet, when I make slippery slope arguments in a debate, I’m often ridiculed as a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist. If your predictions actually come true, doesn’t that mean you’re, in fact, not paranoid. At least when I’m 90 I’ll be able to say, “I told you guys this was going to happen.”

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5. #5 |  The Serpent |  November 19th, 2003 at 10:42 am

   Nicely done Mr. Balko.

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6. #6 |  roger |  November 19th, 2003 at 10:52 am

   Excellent article. I think the phrase, “demise of absurdity” speaks VOLUMES in itself. May even make a good band name.

   Regarding the observation, “Give these people your cigarettes, and next they’ll come for your beer.”, I say,

   Thank God for the beer fridge in my basement and my belief in the 2nd ammendment. They can take my beer when they pry it from my cold, dead hands…

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7. #7 |  David L. |  November 19th, 2003 at 11:11 am

   Fabulous. Farley’s right.

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8. #8 |  Jeff |  November 19th, 2003 at 11:57 am

   A little overwrought, don’t you think? After all, it’s just smoking, for chrissakes. This is a non-issue. Folks can *still* smoke in every square inch of their private property (when the police start kicking in your door to wrest your smokes from your ‘cold, dead hands’, let me know) and despite limited anecdotal evidence to the contrary, in most public spaces in America (so what if they have to walk an extra 20 yards to a designated smoking area - don’t we all have to make extra effort to find a designated pissing area when we have to go?). I’m woefully underwhelmed by this argument.

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9. #9 |  James |  November 19th, 2003 at 12:10 pm

   Hey Radley,

   Did ya read this article by Confessore?

   http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0312.confessore.html

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10. #10 |  The Serpent |  November 19th, 2003 at 12:42 pm

    Jeff: Folks can *still* smoke in every square inch of their private property (when the police start kicking in your door to wrest your smokes from your ‘cold, dead hands’, let me know)

    Every square inch? If I own a bar or restaurant – if I paid for it with my own money – then isn’t that my private property? Or are you saying that the government actually owns “my” bar or restaurant?

    Jeff: don’t we all have to make extra effort to find a designated pissing area when we have to go?

    Actually I think it is legal to pee wherever you want when it is your own private property.

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11. #11 |  roger |  November 19th, 2003 at 1:07 pm

    Jeff -

    My “cold, dead hands” comment was a joke, you know, a little play on the old NRA thing…

    However, you are very wrong in this being “a little overwrought”. The issue of smoking bans is incrementalism at its best. Like most freedoms, once it’s taken away, it doesn’t come back. A smoking ban is just another erosion of our already weakening private property rights.

    The whole point to this issue is that, the smoking ban in restaurants in and of itself is not earth-shattering. Smoking hasn’t been outlawed, so what’s the big deal?

    The big deal is that government should have no business in these matters whatsoever. Why not just let the market work without putting more laws on the books that do nothing more than further restrict personal freedoms? The market always works more efficiently than government anyhow, so if the public wants a smoke-free bar, someone will gladly build one. Why mandate that which will happen on it’s own anyhow?

    “I’m woefully underwhelmed by this argument”

    That you and many others feel this way is the whole reason laws like this are enacted.

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12. #12 |  Anonymous |  November 19th, 2003 at 1:15 pm

    Jeff: Folks can *still* smoke in every square inch of their private property (when the police start kicking in your door to wrest your smokes from your ‘cold, dead hands’, let me know)

    I live in NYC and recently moved into a new apartment. Because I don’t smoke, i received a $50 a month deduction on my rent. Technicially, if i wanted to smoke in my apartment, my private property, i would have to pay extra. I hear the police knocking.

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13. #13 |  Frank N |  November 19th, 2003 at 1:24 pm

    Well done.

    I noted this part

    The same Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that’s sponsoring these “smoke free” initiatives around the country is also determined to restrict access to and reduce the consumption of alcohol. They’ve spent millions on “Fighting Back,” a multi-city program explicitly aimed at curbing per capita alcohol consumption….

    I call on you my brethren to fight the powers that long to push you into a sober state. Fight the power, consume with vigor! I know each and everyone of you can do your part to stop this madness. Fight the power, consume with verve!

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14. #14 |  The Serpent |  November 19th, 2003 at 1:30 pm

    Frank N. I call on you my brethren to fight the powers that long to push you into a sober state.

    I’ll drink to that! (*raises a glass*)

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15. #15 |  Hank |  November 19th, 2003 at 3:39 pm

    isn’t this a public health issue?
    governments “force” restaurants to have clean kitchens, have a working bathroom for customers, etc….isn’t that an intrusion on the way i run my business?

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16. #16 |  MattG |  November 19th, 2003 at 5:02 pm

    Jeff,

    You make Radley’s point for him. Your attempt at satire has already been tried in Montgomery County, MD, where the County Council two years ago passed a bill that would fine smokers up to $500 for smoking in their homes if their neighbors caught even the slightest whiff of cigarette smoke! After international attention and ridicule, they backed down. But you can be sure they’ll try again in a couple of years, after people get used to more of their rights being stripped away by government.

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17. #17 |  digamma |  November 19th, 2003 at 5:07 pm

    Because I don’t smoke, i received a $50 a month deduction on my rent. Technicially, if i wanted to smoke in my apartment, my private property, i would have to pay extra.

    Your use of the word “rent” suggests to me that it’s not entirely your private property.

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18. #18 |  Peter |  November 19th, 2003 at 5:34 pm

    One of your best pieces yet. I think I actually smoke more than I want to just to piss anti-smoking people off.

    As for charging less to a non-smoker, that is a private property right, you disprove your own point. Private property owners can do whatever they want with their property, that is called LIBERTY. But imagine if that same landlord charged $50 more to fat people because of elevator space used up, or if they charged $50 more for not smoking, at that point the government would step in against the landlord.

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19. #19 |  Peter |  November 19th, 2003 at 5:37 pm

    One note to the last post, that private property right belong to the owner not the lessee of the apartment. Once a lease is established the lessee then has purchased those private property rights in a oversimplified way.

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20. #20 |  corquando |  November 20th, 2003 at 10:47 am

    Jeff:

    Remember these?

    First they came for the Jews
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a Jew.
    Then they came for the Communists
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a Communist.
    Then they came for the trade unionists
    and I did not speak out
    because I was not a trade unionist.
    Then they came for me
    and there was no one left
    to speak out for me.

    Pastor Martin Niemöller

    War is Peace
    Ignorance is Strength
    Freedom is Slavery

    George Orwell, 1984

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21. #21 |  SashaCastel.com |  November 20th, 2003 at 6:46 pm

    Defining reductio down

    Two great articles today about the impending Washington DC smoking ban:Raldey Balko in TCS and Walter Williams in Townhall.

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