In defining a public policy on smoking that is consistent with the general values of the American people, one must try to define what might be the general values of the American people. To this end, one must determine whether cigarette smoking is a “right” of Americans who choose to smoke. The latest policy proposals proffered by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee and the Labor Department appear to think it is more a “wrong” than a “right”. Their proposals ban smoking in virtually any public space, including restaurants, bars, outdoor sports arenas and others. If we are looking at whether these policies are in keeping with the general values of American citizens, it appears American citizens who smoke and those who do not have quite different values. If we look at two opinions from typical Americans, one a smoker the other not, we can see how disparate American values are:
Listen, my representatives, I do not want you interfering with my life, my home, my workplace, my fun place. I do not want you to put the cost of your eternal screw-ups and overspending on my cigarettes by constantly increasing taxes, and I do not want you to tell me when and where I can smoke. I want you to make accommodations for bother smokers and non-smokers.
The time has come to exclude smoking from the lives of Americans—from the innocent infant victims to the guilty smoking population. Smoking has caused more damage than the tobacco industry could ever equal in revenue. Thus, the flimsy excuse of billions of dollars in tax revenue should not support the continuation of the tobacco industry.
The above viewpoints show the difficulty behind enacting public policy on smoking that is consistent with the general values of the American people. The American people are often quite inconsistent in their values. However, there is a deeper problem underlying smoking policy and that is the fact that tobacco companies and the U.S. g...