Great op-ed in the Kinston Free Press today on how the seeming best intentions of the nanny-staters only take away individual rights:
We think that most people in North Carolina know that and are capable of making their own decisions on which restaurants or bars to frequent.
Unfortunately, our legislators thought that they knew better. They took the authority to make such decisions out of the hands of business owners and their customers.
As we argued for much of the past two years on this issue, this is fundamentally about the rights of individuals and businesses to engage in free choice. Freedom to frequent or not frequent the establishments that best fit what the individual chooses and the market, not government, will decide the winners and losers.
Isn’t it amazing that in this day in age where consumers are opting for more and more choices in their lives that they just seemingly sit back and accept government applying a one-size-fits-all solution to problems. Hmm… Obamacare anyone?
Excellent comments on this erosion of property rights.
But let’s look at it from an economic standpoint.
If smokers decide to go out to bars/restaurants less frequently, demand for those businesses will decline. Lowered demand will lower prices, which will in turn put downward pressure on worker wages. So the smoking ban will result in lower wages for waitresses, barkeeps, cooks, etc.
To the extent that bars/restaurants are already low margin operations and some can not afford to lower prices and still make an acceptable profit, some establishments will be forced to close – most likely the lower-price establishments. The result is fewer affordable choices for restaurant/bar patrons.
So not only does the smoking ban take away our freedoms, it hurts lower-income and working class people the most (just like every liberal nanny/welfare state policy).