Do We Want a Society That is Like an Ice Cream Store or an On-Off Switch?
The Editors

It turns out that the smoking ban debate is really about whether we want a society that has as many flavors as an ice cream store, or one in which conformity is enforced so that we all live according to a single government dictate. Consider that the majority of people who will be voting for the ban never go to bars or billiard parlors or similar establishments of any kind – indeed, if you are health enthusiast, you’d be something of a hypocrite to spend your time at such establishments rather than at the fitness club.

The question then is whether Austin is big enough for all of us and whether we truly value a diversity of lifestyles.

Consider that 99.5% of Austin workplaces are smoke-free. Over 90% of all food and beverage operations are smoke-free, over 60% of all bars are smoke-free. Only 217 bars and live music venues allow smoking for a city with 800,000 residents. There are another ten restaurants with permits for separately ventilated smoking sections, which would be grandfathered until 2012 under the ballot measure.

Austin has all sorts of establishments, from gay bars to tattoo parlors to fundamentalist religious congregations which invariably offend some segment of the population. How then can proponents of this initiative reasonably argue that Austin cannot have even one bar for smokers?

The biggest myth in the debate is that non-smokers have the right to force all private businesses to be smoke-free.

In a manner that would make Lenin proud, this initiative defines all private bars, billiard parlors, and restaurants as “public places.” Whatever happened to the concept of private property – the notion that business owners should be able to decide how to run their own businesses and cater most effectively to their own clientele?

Indeed, this initiative would make bar owners guilty of a crime even if they take all reasonable steps to prevent and stop smoking, but patrons nevertheless light up.

What’s the real crime here?