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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Wednesday, January 15, 2003 :::
I've refered to Tom Keane as one of my favorite Democrats, but I disagree with his column today in favor of a Cambridge smoking ban.
For a long time, the hospitality industry maintained that if nonsmokers didn't like smoke, then they shouldn't go into places that allowed it. Few buy that argument any more.
Wishful thinking, Tom. Plenty of us still "buy" it.
Nonsmokers want to go where they want and not have to suffer exposure to smoke as the price they pay.
Yes, and I want to go where I want and not have to suffer a lack of hamburgers. Every restaurant in Cambridge should be required to serve hamburgers. They should be decent hamburgers, and cheap, and come with a slice of tomato -- not the flavorless kind one so often finds. I demand a decent, tomato-flavored tomato.
I'm sorry -- I had to get that out of my system.
Let me back away from my gut libertarianism for a moment and make a pragmatic argument. Cambridge has no shortage of smoke-free restaurants -- they outnumber the ones that allow smoking by about four-to-one. These few establishments don't just have to agree to allow smoking, making a conscious decision to put off people who don't like cigarette smoke; they also have to jump through hoops to get licenses for it. Why not leave these last few places for people who want a smoke with their drink?
George Will has said that modern liberals don't really care what people do, so long as it's mandatory. That's the only real explanation for Keane's stance. Is it really a problem for Tom Keane that he only has three hundred plus establishments he can visit in Cambridge (I believe this number and the ratio I gave above are places with liquor licenses; I don't remember with much certainty), and I'm sure there are thousands in Boston. The real issue is that there are a few places that haven't yet conformed to his tastes.
::: posted by Steven at 2:45 PM
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