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Originally Posted by pan6467
Yes, I believe that paying exorbitant taxes gives me the RIGHT to smoke.
It boils down to this..... you can dig deep and justify no smoking in public even though the owner has seperate rooms and ventilations..... you dig deep and can find excuses for my not smoking in the privacy of my own car..... just as someone can dig deep and find reasons why Howard Stern couldn't be on public airwaves, just like some mother can dictate to a school that she doesn't want Tom Sawyer in the library......
In any situation like that you are not in any way bettering society YOU ARE SIMPLY TAKING AWAY CHOICES AND OTHER PEOPLE'S RIGHTS..... and once you start giving any government that ability, that power, you need to see the whole picture because in the end.... the government will eventually get rid of any choice and just dictate.
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Rights aren't supposed to be connected to the amount of taxes one pays. Can you imagine how fucked up that would be? Just because i pay the gas tax doesn't mean i can do whatever the fuck i want with my car. The ability to assert that you have a right has no bearing on whether you actually do have that right. You should admit that you have no legally protected right to smoke. You should admit that it is a stretch to even think that you have a legally implied right to smoke.
And one day they came for the smokers, but i wasn't a smoker so i did nothing... I could see your slippery slope being valid if we lived in a monarchy of some sort, but we don't. These bans quite often are approved directly by your fellow citizens via referendum. This isn't generally a case of "big government" squashing the little guy, in many places this is grassroots politics.
I think most people would disagree with the notion that smoking bans don't better society, that's why most people support them. Frankly i don't see what the big deal is. Even when i smoked a lot, i still hated coming home from a club or a bar smelling like ass with bright red eyes.
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Originally Posted by flstf
I understand, but like I asked before, why do those who do not want to deal with smoke care about smoking in places they can easily avoid?
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It's not that difficult a question to answer. Maybe nonsmokers feel they have some sort of "right" to go to a bar and not leave smelling like burnt tobacco. Surely all the smokers whose made up "rights" have been violated can relate to that notion.
Maybe it's just a matter of a lack of smoke-free options. See, i don't know about where you live, but i don't think that there were any bars in my city that prohibited smoking before the ban so if i wanted to go to a bar, i had to put up with the smoke. That sucked, but you know what? It doesn't anymore because it isn't a problem.
Maybe it's harsh, but in the same way that you think that nonsmokers should just stay away from smoke-filled bars if they don't like it, maybe smokers who don't like smoking bans should stay away from communities that don't allow smoking in restaurants. I mean, why do those who do not want to deal with smoking bans care about not being able to smoke in cities and counties they can easily avoid? Let the smokers vote with their choice of residencies.