22% Say Smoking Should Be Against The Law

Rasmussen Reports ^ | December 18, 2008

[Eric Blair 2084]

Over one-out-of-five U.S. voters (22%) say the federal government should outlaw tobacco smoking, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Seventy percent (70%) disagree, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

That support should come as good news for the 15% of voters who currently smoke -- unless, of course, they’re trying to quit.

Only 14% of smokers think tobacco smoking should be against the law. Eighty percent (80%) are opposed, and five percent (5%) aren’t sure.

Twenty-two percent (22%) of former smokers say smoking should be outlawed, along with 23% of those who have never smoked.

Generally, those segments of the voting population that have the highest levels of smoking are the ones most likely to favor making it illegal.

But 71% of voters also believe that tobacco companies should not be held liable for health problems that current smokers develop. Sixty-two percent of smokers agree.

The new survey numbers are largely the same as those in February 2007.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Sometimes there is so much to say, it is hard to even know where to begin.

Let me let FReepers in on a little secret. This is not about smoking or tobacco. Never was. Ban it entirely. If it is so horrible that it kills the consumer and everyone within a 50 mile radius, how could the Gubmint justify not only keeping it legal but relying on its continued use to fund healthcare for children through SCHIP?

If anyone in the world doubts it, I beg you to have your State congresscritters introduce a bill to ban tobacco sales in their State. Watch what happens.

Why not just ban tobacco completely? : This is a question that has been asked by FReepers with common sense. If it is so horrible and kills the consumer and everyone around them, how could the Gubmint continue to allow it? Everyone here knows the answer. In 2003, Rep. Michael Grosz, R-Grand Forks, a North Dakota Assemblyman introduced a bill to ban the sale of tobacco products in the state. Who showed up to speak against the proposal? Philip Morris? No. RJR? No. Convenience store owners? No. Gabz? No. Me? No....The American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, and the North Dakato Medical Association!! Why? You guessed it...no tobacco = no money for them.

[Drango]

Give it a rest. Addiction is fine. Just don’t do it around me or ask me to pay for your extended hospital stays.

[Responsibility2nd]

Over one-out-of-five U.S. voters (22%) say the federal government should outlaw tobacco smoking, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Maybe these 1 in 5 morons should hook up with the 1 in 5 morons who believe we should legalize dope.

They could argue pro and con till their heads explode.

[FlingWingFlyer]

If they ban tobacco, who is going to pay for “free” healthcare for the “churldren?” The non-smokers sure as hell don’t want to do it.

[beckysueb]

I think nanny statism should be outlawed.

[Eric Blair 2084]

I agree, in the collectivist Socialist States of America, why should I have to either look at or hear an annoying fat woman in a bathing suit while on vacation?

Eat as many cheeseburgers as you want and lounge in your own living room. We’ll just hit you with all kinds of taxes to discourage your behavior.

Why should I pay for your diabetes and high blood pressure meds with my tax dollars?

[freekitty]

I don’t think it’s anyones business.

[beckysueb]

Thats fair as long as you don’t ask me to pay for obesity and homosexual diseases, etc. Where is your outrage over these things which kill more people than tobacco?

[Gabz]

You’re the one that needs to give it a rest.

It was seen clearly in another thread on another evening that you are only a conservative when it is convenient for you.

[Drango]

Ask Eric to pay for the gay stuff...

[Eric Blair 2084]

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junkie, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Egalitarian, Central Planning, Sheeple Control, Health Nazi, Socialism, Collectivism

This is an extremely low volume ping list. 6 per week max. To be added to or deleted from this ping list, please click one of the following:

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We the People Sheeple of the United States Nanny State, in Order to form a more perfect Union Socialist Utopia, establish Justice Socially engineer a country of non smoking, physically fit, teetotalers, insure domestic Tranquility Smoking bans in bars, limits on unhealthy food and social drinking, provide for the common defense Universal Healthcare, promote the general Welfare health of the population whether they like it or not, in order to save above mentioned Universal Healthcare entitlement program from bankruptcy, and secure the Blessings of Liberty Dependency to ourselves progressive liberals and our Posterity Hitler Youth who we brainwash through public school education, do ordain decree and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Nanny State of Liberals.

[mamelukesabre]

Your post was funny until I started thinking that maybe they are the same 1 in 5 people. Maybe it’s the drug users that want tobacco outlawed as revenge. If their drug of choice is against the law, they want everyone else’s outlawed too. Alcohol, tobacco, coffee, etc. Moral equivalence gone bad.

[Larry Lucido]

Maybe they can agree on “medicinal tobacco.”

[TV Dinners]

wanna bet?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[RichInOC]

Oh, yeah. I’m perennially amused by the fact that California uses its cut of the revenues they get from Big Tobacco to make very lavishly produced commercials slapping it around like a pimp slaps a ho. By the way, folks, isn’t that Norah Jones singing the lullaby in that cigarette-girl-as-Grim-Reaper spot, or am I just hearing things?

[skinkinthegrass]

now: smokes.....your rights.
...sugar.
...fats.
...your life.

[Responsibility2nd]

Oh Cool!

A spat from another thread. Carried over to a new one.

Never saw that happen before!

lolol

[Eric Blair 2084]

Drango, I don't believe you have ever been in my office.

I'm here to help you and provide a public service for a fee. I am a fully trained psychologist specializing in Nanny State Behavior Syndrome (NSBS). This liberal, left wing, social engineering disease is horrible and can strike anyone at anytime. It can even strike Conservatives who believe in free markets and limited government.

Thankfully, Dr. Feel (a wholly owned subsiduary of Dr. Phil) is here to help you work through your problems.

Please answer the questionaire below, so I know how best to treat you. And please have your insurance card ready for the wallet biopsy. This is a Capitalist country and I don't work for free.

I discriminate against smokers because:

A. The smell of smoke is icky and yucky, it makes my hair and clothes stink and I hate walking into a bar/restaurant where people are smoking. So rather than take advantage of the free market and go somewhere that is voluntarily smoke free, I would rather use the power of the state to impose my personal preference on my fellow citizens.

A1. My __________ (choose one: Dad, Mom, Uncle, Aunt, Grandfather, Grandmother, older sister, brother, babysitter, next door neighbor, mailman) abused me by smoking ________(choose one: Marlboro, Merit, Kool, crack, Camel, Kent, marijuana) in the __________ (choose one: house, car, bar, juvenile detention center) when I was a kid.

B. My beloved ___________ (choose one: husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, nephew, niece, uncle, aunt, maid, dog, cat, goldfish, gay lover) died from _________(choose one: cancer, heart disease, emphysema, car crash, train wreck, terrorist attack, sting ray) because of their smoking.

C. I smoked for _____ (years) and now I am ________ (choose one: missing it, sick, dead, born again, enlightened, ashamed of myself, if I can't do it, nobody can) and want to share my experience with others.

D. The Big Tobacco companies are lying scumbags and must pay! (you're not coming down off the mountain with the tablets there)

E. I represent Big Pharmaceutical interests that benefit from the anti-smoking movement because it increases the sales of our Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products.

F. I am a deeply caring individual in the mold of Mother Theresa and I am speaking out due to my benevolent, philanthropic, altruistic concern about the health of my fellow man.

G. I am a research scientist and grant junky, and if I don't tow the party line my grant money will disappear.

H. I'm just a garden variety Fascist and Totalitarian and get a ______ (choose one: cheap thrill, natural high, erection, orgasm) by imposing my will on other people.

I. I am a retard who believes in bogus studies, junk science, the Easter Bunny and the Toothfairy. I fear that because I walked into a bar on Spring Break in 1987, and was exposed to Second Hand Smoke I now suffer from ______(choose one: AIDS, Herpes, Athletes Foot, Jock Itch, male pattern baldness, or genital warts)

J. I am a disgruntled, prissy and angry employee of a ______(choose one: bar, restaurant, club, casino) who can't leave the job because I am a _______(choose one: slave, indentured servant, sweatshop laborer, illegal immigrant) and had no idea there was smoking going on in the place before I took the job.

K. An elected public serpent, serving as a _____ (choose one: State Assemblywoman, Senator, Freeholder, city councilman, mayor) and I have failed miserably in my job and trying to tackle really tough problems like _____ (choose one: gang violence, income taxes, property taxes, crime, corruption), so I will support a smoking ban based on the talking points and literature that "M" has given me and claim that I have actually accomplished something to help my constituents.

L. A Socialist liberal Democrat who is desperate for Universal Healthcare so the proletariet will continue to keep me in power. But if I don't do something about the "demand side" health care costs caused by such global health menaces as _________ (choose one: Marlboro, Merit, Kool, Big Macs, Whoppers, Chicken McNuggets, Budweiser, Coors, Jack Daniels) my health care entitlement program will go ________ (choose your adjective: broke, belly up, bankrupt, insolvent).

M. A professional anti-tobacco activist who makes $450,000 per year. MY GOAL IS TO REDUCE SMOKING RATES FROM 25% TO BELOW 10%. KICKING THEM OUT OF THEIR FAVORITE BAR AND RESTAURANT IS JUST A SMALL STEP TO COERCE THEM TO QUIT. I DON'T EVEN BELIEVE THE SHS NONSENSE MYSELF! Don't you dare try to ban cigarettes, if you do I will have to go back to my previous job ______(choose one: prostitute, drug dealer, pimp, state assemblyman, mayor) where I won't make nearly as much money and the bank will foreclose on my seaside villa and repo my _______(choose one: Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Hummer, Infiniti, Acura,Jaguar, Volvo, Bentley). I take advantage of the prejudices of categories A-L above to accomplish my goal.

N. I am a Religious Fundamentalist who believes that smoking is strictly forbidden in the ______(choose one: Qu'ran, Bible, Torah, Old Testament, New Testament, David Wells' autobiography "Perfect I'm Not", Hustler Magazine)

O. I don't fit any of the above categories, I just like to argue with people.

[Blood of Tyrants]

No, his point is legitimate. If tobacco is SO bad, the the government OUGHT to ban it. But they won’t because of MONEY. Every state in the union takes in BILLION$ from tobacco taxes.