If anti-tobacco zealots were really interested in stopping smoking, they’d just be honest and try to get laws passed against the sale of tobacco. Of course, they can’t do that because the political will to do so does not exist. Instead, what they do is disingenuously frame it as a health care debate for workers or for kids and then attack the industry and smokers so mercilessly that they hope to drive them out of business.
Here’s another example of that from Peabody, Massachusetts. The local cigar store was told by the North Shore Tobacco Control Program that it had to install locks on all cabinets containing cigars. The owner demurred saying it would be too expensive, so he took the alternative and declared the store to be adults only. Not to be deterred, the anti-smoking zealots conducted a sting operation, sending a 17-year-old girl into the store who was immediately carded at the counter and asked to leave. Good job, right? Not on your life.
Instead, the store was levied a fine. Why? Because they didn’t stop the girl at the door. Now mind you, she wasn’t able to buy any tobacco products and was immediately asked to leave. But the tobacco nazis say that it isn’t good enough; you have to stop them at the door. Enough is enough, says the store owner and now he’s selling out, leaving four employees out of work.
First they came for your cigars, then they came for your sandwich
Technorati Tags: freedom, liberalism, tobacco
