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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

Every square inch? If I own a bar or restaurant â?? if I paid for it with my own money â?? then isnâ??t that my private property? Or are you saying that the government actually owns â??myâ? 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.