Lame laws encroach on spirit of freedom

Lame laws encroach on spirit of freedom

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Since Churchill Downs represents the only exemption in Louisville's new and more oppressive public smoking ban, does that mean no fireworks this Fourth of July?

After all, doesn't that after-the-bang murky cloud hanging around constitute dangerous secondhand smoke?

Absurd?

Yes and that's the right description for government edicts approved before policymakers seriously consider the unintended consequences. Policymakers rarely think beyond short-term political benefits.

Need proof?

No one can offer an acceptable reason for why Churchill Downs got an exemption from the smoking ban. While the track offers a lot of outdoor space, some of the grounds should fall within the ordinance.

It's an outrage that the smoking nannies huff and puff and wheeze as they ignore legitimate claims by small-business owners that such a ban offers the real prospect of economic harm. Yet, at the same time they support exempting Churchill Downs for "economic reasons."

Nonsense.

The lawmakers succeeded with the ban because most people have succeeded in convincing themselves that it's acceptable to transfer their dislike for smoking into government policy even if it threatens the property rights of Louisville business owners.

As a result, active proponents capitalize on a perceived anti-business sentiment to achieve their ultimate goal of coercive government action instead of respecting the risk and investment business owners have made. That alone gives restaurant owners every incentive to do the right thing. Many have.

It's surely to the chagrin of these smoking nannies when somebody rises up to challenge them and their political pals at City Hall about exempting certain enterprises. If it's really about protecting our health, there will be no fireworks anywhere on Independence Day. And Thunder Over Louisville with its smoky aftermath? It's out. Done. Finished. And there will be no smoking anywhere inside or out.

Of course, the nannies know that few Louisvillians would tolerate such absurdity.

But the politicians think that the money contributed to the local economy by gamblers and horseracing aficionados comes in a different shade of green than that paid by hardworking restaurateurs.

The smoke? It's the same everywhere — just like the cloud of intrusive government.

Contact the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky's free-market think tank, at (270) 782-2140.Read past Shine the Light articles at www.bipps.org.