First Articles

I am long overdue in starting this blog. There are so many thoughts bottled up in my head looking for an outlet. Recent events around a smoking ban here in Jeffersonville, launched many freedom lovers like myself into action, and this is a good way to build on that momentum.

While I am a libertarian and advocate of self-government, I suddenly realize that I am also conservative, in the sense that I believe in humility. We are all truly blessed. And while I understand that I have skills and talents others don't have, I still feel life is extremely easy for all but the extreme edges of our society. Even that fringe is better off than many children around the world who are grateful for a handful of rice. Instead of gratitude we just demand more, and it is always at the expense of and destruction of choices for others.

People will say that it is easy for me because I had advantages. If you call a work ethic, self esteem, and a sense of accountability advantages, then I would agree -- only families and involved neighbors, out of necessity, can supply these attributes -- no social program will ever suffice. I squandered and rejected every socioeconomic advantage that my father burned midnight oil to give me. I never fit any mold that he or society expected me fit. I have stumbled through life with no real purposefulness, and without trying very hard, I ended up with more than I ever imagined having. This is partly because I was taught to be happy with whatever I have.

Growing up in middle and upper-middle class homes, I learned that creature comforts do not bring happiness and peace; such comforts did not make our home happy or peaceful. Respect for others, responsibility for ourselves, dedication to establishing peaceful and voluntary associations, both business and personal -- these seem be much more important than luxuries like dining out on my own terms.

To start things off, I am including extended versions of letters to the editor that I submitted to the Courier-Journal (Louisiville, KY) and The Evening News (Jeffersonville, IN) regarding the smoking ban. I submitted highly abbreviated, 200 word versions of these articles, and both were published with few changes on Saturday, November 12th, 2005. Despite our best efforts, the ordinance passed, divided along partisan lines and is currently awaiting the Mayor's signature.

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... Business Owners Rights
(title of abbreviated version in the CJ)

*** Full version (368 words) ***

Jeffersonville may pass a smoking ban. This shows how our affluent society tends to spoil us. You will upset some folks if you suggest that the issue is not about the rights of consumers. "Of course it’s about MY rights. It’s all about me!" Ask where the property rights of business owners figure in, and it’s like you are suddenly speaking a different language.

We have been so coddled for so long, we mistake luxuries like eating out for rights, so we whittle away at the essential rights of some while imagining new rights for ourselves. We demand to be served on our own terms and never consider that the people who run these places are free too, and are not obligated to do anything in particular for us. To say otherwise is to say people in business are slaves – there to serve our selfish interest.

After the War Between the States, former slaves were promised land in the understanding that their so-called freedom meant nothing without property. That is also why they were later booted off of those lands. Property is the fruit of our labor. To infringe on property is to steal the fruit of our labor and turn us into servants of the state – these are called serfs and slaves.

Most of us are just working folk and do what we are told every day. So what do we care if businesses have to bow to the whims of a few council members? That’s a common view. "Business" is demonized today. Yet, this is not a conspiracy by evil rich corporations to profit from our misery. This ban largely affects small local businesses, run by your neighbors; you will find many of them behind the counters of their restaurants and shops and hopefully at the next city council meeting.

You would not (I hope) come into your neighbor’s home and tell her that she cannot smoke. Please give your neighbor’s business the same respect. Realize you are a guest who is privileged to be served. And if you don’t like the food, or the service or the smell of smoke, don’t go whining to the city like a spoiled child who didn’t get his way.

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Enter At Your Own Risk
(title of abbreviated version in the Evening News)

*** Full version (297 words) ***

The Jeffersonville City Council may pass a smoking ban. Supporters will supply all sorts of reasons. They will speak of imagined rights to dining out, while ignoring the essential property rights of business owners. One justification that has real traction is "public health".

Public health justifies forced dumping of fluoride into the majority of water supplies. My brother-in-law, a retired government biochemist, says it is the most successful public health program ever, that it nearly put dentists out of business. Some in the scientific community disagree with the NIH and doubt the safety of this wholesale 1-size fits-all solution. Others say it was fancy footwork to repackage and sell fluoride laden industrial waste while protecting industries from liability claims. It seems odd to dump tons of a highly regulated chemical just to get a few pounds of it to the children who may need it, but I don’t know who is right.

All I know is what is right for me. Public health is a dangerous notion. It lets a few people decide what is right for everyone. They will sound informed and well intentioned like my brother-in-law. And many welcome lifting these burdens off their shoulders. It means not having to live a cautious, informed and responsible life.

Public health removes your responsibility to weigh life’s risks for yourself. From a health standpoint, no one should become a fire fighter. It’s just too risky. But the risk of not having fire fighters is worse. No one’s forced to become a fire fighter and no one’s forced to enter restaurants. We can each vote for non-smoking establishments with our dollars and our feet, without the tampering of the city council.

Think of restaurants with smoke like you would a burning building. Enter at your own risk.