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Originally Posted by TN_Chief
Hold up. Someone was throwing the word "fascist" around earlier today. I'm supporting what amounts to the democratic process here...majority rule. You are effectively saying that the will of the majority should be ignored. That's fascism. Welcome to the dictatorship of the special interest (smokers in this case).
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First off, we are not a democracy, we are a democratic republic. This means we democratically elect our leaders but they are to do what is best for us, not necessarily what the majority wants. They are hopefully better informed and more intelligent than most of us and that is why we put them in a leader position. Of course this is a lovely theory but we have lost this aspect over the years. Probably because we keep putting idiots in charge rather than true leaders.
Second of all, this thread was started on the premise that these laws are wrong because of what it is forcing the business owner to do, it is not about smokers vs non-smokers. This is not a case of "protecting" the smoker, it is about allowing the owner the freedom to cater to the market segment of his choice. Again, if 80% of the country are non-smokers and much prefer non-smoking establishments, why wasn't there a wave of non-smoking establishments popping up around the country, regardless of legislation? Are our free economists in this country that out of touch that every last one of them missed this chance to get an advantage on their competition by banning smoking in their businesses?