I Don’t Care Who Pays The Rent

I remember a few years ago joking with some friends of mine when the first public smoking bans went into effect saying that pretty soon you won’t even be able to smoke in your own home. It terrifies me to say that the day has arrived when for some you can’t smoke in your home. This is no longer a public health issue, this has become a crusade for many and like all crusades the first thing to die is the rights of those being converted. America is rapidly becoming an autocratic society and because it is being crouched in health, patriotism, and safety, no one seems to be complaining. Like the frog that is being boiled alive gradually, we seem to be oblivious to the rising temperature and the impending doom. In a shocking move, some communities have already begun to enact smoke-free dwelling legislation.

Cities in California have taken the lead in adopting smoke-free housing ordinances.

On May 8, Temecula passed an ordinance that applies to apartment buildings with 10 or more units. The law requires landlords to designate at least 25 percent of their units, including balconies and patios, as nonsmoking. The ordinance is being phased in over five years.

On Oct. 9, Belmont adopted an ordinance that bans smoking in all units of multistory, multiunit residences, including balconies and patios. The ordinance goes into effect 14 months after passage.

The City Council of Calabasas is drafting an ordinance to regulate smoking in multiunit housing and is scheduled to discuss the issue on Nov. 28. The city’s existing smoking ordinance states that owners and managers of private residential property may voluntarily prohibit smoking throughout the property.

Smoke-free housing legislation has also been raised at the state level.[1]

Now granted, I smoke but even if I didn’t this would be troubling for me. The way this thing works is that they isolate the easy targets, in this case smokers, who could be against banning that awful habit that kills even those that don’t partake of it through “second-hand” smoke? After they are taken care of who will be next? Maybe we’ll ban fast food, it’s dangerous and causes as much harm as smoking. Pretty soon everyone will be snacking on carrot and celery sticks and wouldn’t that be nice?

The issue to me is bigger than smoking or burgers, it is about an erosion of some fundamental principles that use to define America. We use to be a land of live and let live, everyone could do pretty much what they wanted so long as it didn’t endanger anyone else directly. This included activities that some may have considered dangerous or detrimental to the one doing the activity. Gradually our society has evolved into a nation of busybodies no longer content to mind their own business, but wanting to impose their beliefs on their neighbors and society as a whole.

Where did this intrusion come from and who’s behind it. It is my belief that the intrusion is being led by corporations, in this case the Insurance industry. You remember the industry that forced seat-belt and helmet laws into enactment to keep death benefits down. Well, they are now using junk science and antidotal evidence to try and completely ban smoking even in homes. Whether you smoke or not one of the defining principles of America is a man’s home is his castle, no longer if the insurance industry and their well-meaning zealots have any say. We have always taken for granted the science behind second-hand smoke mainly because smoke is an irritant for non-smokers and if we can use public health concerns to get it banned so be it. Also, since most smokers have been pummeled into submission to the point of having some shame complex behind doing it, they have offered little resistance to the non-smoking legislative agenda. Maybe this will be the wakeup call for smokers to say enough is enough.

"We found a rather remarkably low SMR [standardized incidence ratio] for lung cancer among female cabin attendants and no increase for male cabin attendants, indicating that smoking and exposure to passive smoking may not play an important role in mortality in this group. Smoking during airplane flights was permitted in Germany until the mid-1990s, and smoking is still not banned on all charter flights. The risk of cardiovascular disease mortality for male and female air crew was surprisingly low (reaching statistical significance among women)."[2]

The following came from a study done in Germany where smoking onboard planes was allowed until the mid 1990’s and was done over the course of 37 years. I don’t want to rehash the passive smoke debate with all of its attendant emotional baggage, but I do want to express my outrage at the state of the non-smoking influence on personal liberty. There seems to be a concerted effort on all fronts to curb personal freedom in America. The frightening part about it is the lack of outrage or resistance on the part of the citizenry, it is almost as if the country is under some type of collective hypnosis or Prozac induced stupor. I for one refuse to surrender without a fight and I will continue to smoke where applicable and will continue to raise the cause of freedom where not applicable.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/us/05smoke.html
[2] http://www.data-yard.net/39/cabin.pdf