"This legislation will allow Michigan businesses to join with many other states across the nation who have made the sensible steps necessary to preserve a healthy work environment for Michigan employees," said Schuitmaker, R-Antwerp Township.Here's a thought: why not let people make their own decisions?
Friday, December 11, 2009
Nanny Statists Win
The state legislature has voted to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. Rep. Tonya Schuitmaker sent out bragging about voting for the bill.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Finally, a bipartisan bill that the majority of Michigan voters want.
“Why not let people make their own decisions?” That’s an easy one.
The bill is about the state protecting the public's health just as it does with regulations about how restaurants store, handle and prepare food. We don't leave it up to businesses to decide if they will require their employees to wash their hands before preparing customers food, what temperatures they should maintain their food at, or what procedures should be taken when handling food. We require certain regulations be followed to protect the health of the public. It is no different with secondhand smoke.
Why would anyone assume that government knows better than people how to live their own lives? Regulations of food preparation at least affect something that people can't readily see. Of course, nobody would choose to eat poisoned food and any restaurant that served it would quickly go out of business.
In contrast, it is perfectly obvious which restaurants allow smoking, meaning that people are quite capable of making their own choices without busibodies telling them what to do.
First, the government is the people. Second, the Michigan Constitution charges the Legislature with protecting the public health. Third, people have a right to breathe clean air and to work in a safe environment; they don’t have a right to jeopardize other people’s health.
The government is most certainly NOT the people. It's not 'the people' who fund corporate welfare, restrict competition through regulations, inflate the currency, funnel money to political cronies, etc. The government is a small minority of people who exploit the rest.
Public health means things like clean water, sanitation, and controling insects and rodents that individuals can't do anything about. It does not mean forcing people to live the way that statist busybodies want them to. People can't choose to avoid airborne disaeses, but they can certainly choose to avoid smoking.
Post a Comment