Who do you think you are smoking in my bar?

Here in the NJP home base state of Michigan there are rumblings going around our state house of a smoking ban in all public places. This would also include restaurants and bars. I just want to go on the record now and state that smoking is a dirty habit. It is unhealthy as all get out and it makes you, and your belongings stink like ass. I will also freely admit that while I have never smoked a cigarette, I have in the past been a cigar smoker. I haven't had one in like a year and a half, but would smoke one again if the opportunity came up. Now that we got that out of the way I want to talk about this ban.

I will be pretty straight forward here and say I think that a blanket ban on smoking in all public places is wrong. I agree with getting it out of the most highly trafficked areas that bring a lot of people together for different reasons. Like malls and grocery stores. I agree with bans of smoking in public parks or other government controlled land. Second hand smoke is undoubtedly dangerous and no man, woman or especially a child should be exposed to it without a choice. On the other hand, I do not think the government should tell a place like a bar they cannot let their patrons smoke.

I think the debate should start by defining the term public place. In what way is a bar a public place? I know that it kind of is by the fact that people enter from the public realm to eat and drink in there, but is it not a privately owned business? The smoking inside a bar or a restaurant is contained to the establishment. It is not like the local lounge is billowing smoke out onto the unsuspecting public. I know that question gets a little trickier when you talk about a place that has smoking and non smoking sections, but the rational that it is a private business that people from the public realm go into applies to this too. I understand that you really can't have it both types of sections in a restaurant, but that really isn't the point. Second hand smoke is dangerous, and that isn't the point either. The point is, and this always gets me in trouble with my wife, is that a privately owned business should not be made to cater to the wants of a few at their expense.

In America no one has the right to a smoke free burger. You just don't. A business owner has the right to operate his or her business the way they see fit(within the law, and as of right now smoking is not illegal). You may not have the right to smokeless fries, but you have a much more powerful right at your disposal. You have the right to spend your hard earned money any way you see fit. You don't like the fact that your local Red Lobster has a smoking section? Don't go. If enough people feel the same and that Red Lobster starts losing money, then you can bet your nicotine free behind that the no smoking signs will be up yesterday. The neat thing about this little idea is that you as consumer will not be exposed to dangerous second hand smoke, and hopefully shape how area establishments do business. The whole thing revolves around the fact that you control your life, your priorities and what you will put up with. If my wife told me today we would never go in a smoking restaurant for a date ever again I would support her. That is because I support my wife, not a ban on smoking in those places.

It is all hypocritical anyway. Because if the government really cared about public health, half the foods these bars and restaurants serve would be banished from the menu.