Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (114091)	6/20/2008 9:01:11 AM
From: Freedom Fighter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

skeeter, >it isn't a matter of maximizing freedom. whichever avenue you take, freedom is lost. the proper question is whether the freedom of those who chose to smoke and pollute in public places is more important than the freedom of those who prefer not have their stinky pollution when in public places> It's a private property issue. That's the main point. The subway, buses, courtrooms etc.. are public places. I have no problem with government and government institutions barring smoking in places under their control. Poolroom, bars, restaurants etc... are private property. As to your other point, the "public" didn't vote for this. In many cases left wing totalitarian politicians simply rammed it down people's throats. Since there are way fewer smokers than non-smokers these days, there wasn't enough resistance to prevent it. However, there are things right wing fascists would like to bar because they can easily be correlated to increased accidents, death, crime, lower standards of living, poorer quality of life etc.... which all impact society negatively. There's a problem with that general philosophy though. It's anti freedom and for most people it doesn't matter until they want to bar "your" vice. That's why the best solution was/is to promote non-smoking in general and non-smoking bars, restaurants, etc... while retaining the right for owners (and therefore consumers) to choose from among both types. There should also be smoking and non-smoking flights etc...