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Politics : A Neutral Corner -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (2241)	7/31/2007 3:24:20 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2253

I understand the principles involved and where you stand on them. I don't really disagree with you. But I also see something that wasn't working. Practically speaking, how else do you fix it. When there's a need for something that the market isn't providing, you have to get someone in a position to make it available engaged about the need to make it happen. If it's a new product, a widget, planting a bug in the right person's ear is doable. The idea is developed, a trial balloon appears on Amazon or a TV infomercial, and people either flock to it or not. New things are added all the time. Some make it and some don't. But what about an established, competitive service. You're not adding anything something new but changing established protocols. How would you go about getting the market to provide non-smoking restaurants? Convert one as a trial balloon? That would be a huge risk for the restauranteur. He wouldn't want to lose current customers. If business were poor he might be willing, but then, if it failed, how would you know it wasn't because the same problem that made business poor didn't cause the failure. Lousy food without smoke isn't going to bring business. And maybe enough of the niche likes Bolivian food. Even if it were successful, how long would the idea spread? It would take forever. I just don't see any practical natural-marketplace way of making it happen. Maybe some media personalities or celebrities could get enough buzz to spread the idea but that's no sure thing. IOW, I understand the urge to take some items to the government. It's a convenient buzz-substitute. You wouldn't take your idea for a better mousetrap to the government but non-smoking restaurants isn't really comparable to mousetraps. Remember, Tim, I'm old enough to remember spittoons. You don't find them in bars anymore, either. It took laws to make that happen. And nowadays no one misses them.