Smoking ban proves Legislature can get things done

Post Bulletin ^ | 5/17/07 | Editorial:

[Wheee The People]

Editorial: Smoking ban proves Legislature can get things done 5/17/2007 8:56:33 AM ...

The hope comes in the form of the "Freedom to Breathe Act," which Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed on Wednesday.

The act, which will take effect on Oct. 1, bans smoking in virtually all bars and restaurants in the state. A statewide smoking ban was proposed in previous legislative sessions, but the bills died amid the partisan rancor that has beset the Legislature through the 2000s.

This year, however, nearly equal numbers of Republican and DFL lawmakers joined together to pass the statewide smoking ban by comfortable margins in both the Senate and the House.

We stated in a previous editorial that the smoking ban issue is one that is best addressed at the statewide level. Many cities and counties, including Olmsted, have enacted their own smoking bans over the last decade. But those local ordinances create an unequal playing field for bar and restaurant owners who fear they'll lose business to nearby communities. The statewide bill goes a long way toward leveling the playing field.

We are empathetic to business owners who still believe they'll lose customers as a result of the statewide ban. However, the Oct. 1 implementation date, which was moved back from the bill's original Aug. 1 compliance deadline, should give business owners and their patrons time to plan ahead. Who knows? Maybe some customers will use the next four and a half months to complete smoking cessation programs, or cut back on their tobacco use.

We also empathize with those who argue that the government has no business telling restaurant and tavern proprietors what to do.

After all, no one is forcing individuals to frequent bars or restaurants that permit smoking, and there are plenty of smoke-free dining and entertainment options out there.

The law isn't perfect. There are still concerns that bars and restaurants near Indian gaming casinos, which are exempt from the new law because they're under federal jurisdiction, might be at a competitive disadvantage.

The same holds true for establishments in border communities such as Moorhead.

Only the enactment of a national smoking ban would completely level the playing field. But that's not likely to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, a Minnesota ban makes good sense in a state that has for decades been a leader in the protection of public health.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Not much longer unfortunately. Bill Godshall of smokefreepa will be crowing and doing his nyanyanyanyanana soon like a 3rd grader when the ban passes there. You should check him out at Dr. Michael Siegel's blog.

The Rest of the Story, Dr. Michael Siegel

[ChildOfThe60s]

Another example of why we need part time legislatures that are only in session 6 weeks a year. I refer to state and federal levels.

[RebekahT]

The government should outlaw McDonalds, too. It makes people fat.

[Despot of the Delta]

Not much longer unfortunately. Bill Godshall of smokefreepa will be crowing and doing his nyanyanyanyanana soon like a 3rd grader when the ban passes there. You should check him out at Dr. Michael Siegel’s blog.

---

From what I’ve been reading the state legislature isn’t real enthusiastic about it. On the other hand if it does go down then I have my Masters thesis falling right into my lap.

[Eric Blair 2084]

I haven’t been following it as closely as you have. You should send your part time public serpent/dry cleaner/homemaker an e-mail BEFORE not AFTER they endorse the social engineering agenda.

I think normal people who don’t even smoke are really starting to get.

You have a guy in Allentown who works in a factory for 11 hours a day. He’s up to his eyeballs in debt, his wife just left him, his brother died, his kids are juvenile delinquents. But he tries to carry on. One thing that gives him just a little bit of joy in his otherwise miserable life is the pleasure of going to a bar after work and having a few beers and smoking some cigarettes with his friends...

And some fascists want to take that away. All in the name of a social engineering experiment to coerce him and others to quit smoking.

What do they do for an encore? Grab an ice cream cone from a little girls’ hands and leave her crying on the sidewalk? Childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes are a menace. Can’t have those medicare and medicaid entitlement programs going broke.

Free country my ass!

[Despot of the Delta]

Well I know here in Johnstown the subject never has been broached by the City Council. And last fall someone opened a smoke-free bar and it’s doing booming business. So the free market dictated there was a need for one thus someone opened one. That is they way it’s suppose to work. I plan on running for City Council in November and if elected and the subject come up I will always vote NO. I’ve been smoking 34 years and I’m not dead yet. :)

[Eric Blair 2084]

A capitalist opened a smoke free bar. LOL!!!

Isn’t that the f’ing point. Many people hate having smoke blown in their face while they swill gallons of beer and eat fried cheese curds. It’s bad for their health.

They would love to be able to go to a bar with no smoke. A capitalist saw the opportunity and met the demand. He/she should make a lot of money by catering to an underserved clientele. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Eric Blair 2084]

"What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to shape it to their own will. The market gives people what the people want instead of what other people think they ought to want. At the bottom of many criticisms of the market economy is really lack of belief in freedom itself. The essence of political freedom is the absence of coercion of one man by his fellow men. The fundamental danger to political freedom is the concentration of power. The existence of a large measure of power in the hands of a relatively few individuals enables them to use it to coerce their fellow men. Preservation of freedom requires either the elimination of power where that is possible, or its dispersal where it cannot be eliminated. It essentially requires a system of checks and balances, like that explicitly incorporated in our Constitution..."

-- Milton Friedman, The New Liberal's Creed: Individual Freedom, Preserving Dissent Are Ultimate Goals," May 18, 1961

[Despot of the Delta]

Only when one focuses, clear-eyed and in literal detail, on the centrality and depth of the behavioral changes necessary to improve health does the immensity of the task become apparent. We are not talking about peripheral or infrequent aspects of human behavior but about some the most basic and often experienced aspects of life: what one eats, how often and how much; how long, how regular, and how peacefully one sleeps, whether one smokes or drinks and how much; even the whole question of personality. Health, then... is a product of innumerable decisions made every day by millions of people. To over see these decisions would call for a larger bureaucracy than anyone has yet conceived and methods of surveillance bigger than big brother. The seat-belt buzzer that screeches at us if we do not modify one small bit of behavior would be but mild harbinger of the restraints necessary to change bad health habits. — Aaron Wildavsky

[wardaddy]

I hate this crap and I don’t smoke

and despite what you say, governing folks bad habits like smoking by the state

IS NOT CONSERVATIVE!

folks of free will can make a choice...go to a non-smoking restauarant or not

here in TN, this is a decidely liberal move

[Eric Blair 2084]

Great quote, but with all due respect who the Hell is Aaron Wildavsky?? I’m sure that if he is still alive he would ask Who the Hell is this Eric Blair 2084 guy on FR?

So we’re even.

[Despot of the Delta]

Google him. I’m getting to read alot of him in grad school.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Is your grad school the University of Bizzaroworld?

I just googled him and the search says that he is a conservative and a libertarian who taught at University of California Berkley????

He was a free market thinker who hated environmental eco wackos and he supposedly was able to keep his job as a tenured professor in the heart of liberal academia?

Dude, it’s not April 1st. You can’t possibly expect me to believe that such a person existed. :-)

There would/should be a national holiday to honor him.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Is your grad school the University of Bizzaroworld?

I just googled him and the search says that he is a conservative and a libertarian who taught at University of California Berkley????

He was a free market thinker who hated environmental eco wackos and he supposedly was able to keep his job as a tenured professor in the heart of liberal academia?

Dude, it’s not April 1st. You can’t possibly expect me to believe that such a person existed. :-)

There would/should be a national holiday to honor him.

[Eric Blair 2084]

The idea of a right wing professor at Cal deserved a double post.

[Despot of the Delta]

I got plenty of him in Public Policy Analysis this semester and his writing blew me away. Also at the University of Bizzaroworld it’s pretty hard to blow smoke up a 44 yr olds ass. LOL

[Eric Blair 2084]

It must be great going back to college knowing what you know now. Big difference between a 22 year old grad student and a 44 year old one with life experience.

Tell me more about this guy you are studying tomorrow. I’m going to bed.

I’m sure that his philosophy is a lot more enlightening than listening to the rantings of Jihad Johnnie Walker Wheezer and his American Taliban social jihad.