Tag Archives: vaping
Our liberties we prize? Our rights we will maintain?
Recent Iowa Polls have found: A majority of Iowans prefer to use the force of government to require fellow citizens to buy gasoline that has ethanol blended into it whether the buyer wants it or not. A majority of Iowans prefer to treat fellow citizens as criminals if they use drugs that are not favored by the majority, even if such use harms no other person. A majority of Iowans want to force businesses to pay a minimum wage, even though it means that the least skilled people may not be able to find work. A majority of Iowans prefer to use the force of government to prohibit vaping in privately owned businesses, even if the owners, customers and employees prefer that it be allowed. Iowa should change its motto to: Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain, unless, of course, the current majority disagrees, even if you are a peaceful person and do no harm to others.
University of Iowa – wrong on tobacco policy.
The Des Moines Register recently reported that the University of Iowa (UI) has decided to implement a policy next Fall to prohibit all forms of tobacco anywhere on its campus. (See link below to Register article.) UI already has a policy that prohibits all smoking on campus. The new policy would extend the ban to all forms of nicotine, including vapor and chewing tobacco. The new policy will apply to students, faculty, staff and visitors. It covers all university buildings and vehicles, plus all outdoor areas controlled by UI. UI is a government institution, and it is proper for governments to prohibit smoking inside or near entrances to government owned buildings because of the risks associated with second hand smoke. For the same reason, it also seems proper to prohibit nicotine vapor inside government buildings. But, smoking outside should not be prohibited. Our air is not and has never been perfectly pure. I would guess that automobiles, forest fires, power plants and volcanoes each put much more harmful pollution into our outdoor air than tobacco smokers. Even worse, prohibiting smokeless (chewing) tobacco is just mean spirited. It is not the proper role for government to prohibit us from legal activities that clearly harm no one other than ourselves. Living involves risks. As a person who does not use tobacco in any form, I have decided to not take those risks. But people who do no harm to others should be free to decide what risks they take with their lives, and neither I, nor any majority, should be able to force our decisions upon them.
Link to article: http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2015/04/07/university-iowa-go-tobacco-free/25420109/