Smoke ‘Em At Your Peril

After the recent smoking ban for restaurants passed in Indianapolis, several local municipalities have sought to do likewise. This was not terribly surprising, although it has made businesses outside Indianapolis’ jurisdiction no less thrilled. However, proponents of the ban, flush with victory, see it as only a stepping stone to a total ban on smoking in the entire metro area, proving that bad law is often followed by worse law.

These are the people who applauded the line “The United States is a non-smoking nation” in the otherwise forgetful movie “Escape from L.A.”. Say what you will about John Carpenter, he can read modern society like a book. Extending the ban on smoking to bars and to the doughnut counties and possibly to the entire public arena is bad enough. That it furthers the trampling on the rights of a business to conduct itself as it sees fit while forcing regulation of individuals’ behaviors and habits by proxy is only the start.

We live in a litigious society. There is no doubt or question to that fact. Attempts at reform have failed miserably or have largely been ignored, thanks primarily to the efforts of lawyers. These same lawyers, still celebrating their victory over Big Tobacco, and licking their wounds from their series of defeats related to the gun industry, know that there is big business yet to be had in other areas like Big Food.

There have already been discussions that perhaps smoking should not be the only “habit” or affectation publicly banned. Some of these charming lawyers have stated that obese people, for example, shouldn’t be allowed in certain restaurants or public places as such displays are offensive. These are well-publicized complaints and instead of being met with scorn and ridicule, they are receiving serious attention from the antique media. No drinking, no red meat, no fried foods, no fun. By labeling such behaviors unhealthy, and with the support of a powerful lobby of doctors, the litigators have laid the groundwork for an offensive designed to shape society in their own image.

By attacking the companies that indulge these behaviors, they begin the social engineering process. Once the companies have been effectively demonized, then those who have not abandoned the companies or their habits are equally attacked as “part of the problem”. Society is taught to treat such individuals with less respect and so on and so forth. If that plan sounds familiar, it is basically the one that’s been used to demonize smoking. Expect to see the same pattern followed with fast and “unhealthy” food. In fact, you may have already seen some of it.

The final stage of social engineering is aimed at the real die-hards, the ones who won’t give in to the previous waves of propaganda. Government is used to control these behaviors, addictions, and hobbies by regulating or even banning certain substances. Historically, we have Prohibition and the “Drug War” to see this trend from start to finish. Nowadays, we have the War on Tobacco and the emerging War on Fast & Unhealthy Food.

The question I pose to those reading is, assuming you don’t agree with this social engineering experiment, what will you do to help stop it? The frontlines are where all real battles are fought, and now the front line is in the city and county council chambers of America. Start there and when the bans come through, when the local ordinances against smoking over overeating or whatever behavior or belief the government has deemed offensive comes up for debate, be one of the first there to kick it back into the hole it crawled out of.

These bans, these limits are nothing more than an exercise in control. It is not a moral issue or an issue of an inalienable right, but it is an issue of power. When power is established, it is difficult to relinquish and even harder to stop from trying to increase its base. Those that wish to build that power and shape society in their own image instead of letting religion or the people themselves shape it count on the fact that what they propose will seem harmless enough that no one will mass against it. As Edmund Burke said, ”When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle” Limits on smoking and fast food are but a small step towards more draconian controls on other aspects of our lives. Let’s nip them in the bud before such ideas can germinate any farther.