A reply to Lydia Graslie

Lydia, in her comment, essentially states that the fact that the World Health Organization says smoking’s bad is a reason to ban it in private businesses:

People can still smoke, they just have to smoke outside of bars now. Given that second hand smoke is such dangerous stuff (once again, death, disease, and disability), I think its more than fair.

That frankly, doesn’t matter.

Lydia might think she knows what’s best for business owners, but she doesn’t. In fact, she has absolutely no legs to stand on in this regard. You see, if we were talking about public places- like government buildings- Lydia would have a good argument. Anyone has the right to enter a public building. Therefore, it should be as safe and welcoming as possible.

But we’re not dealing with public places. We’re dealing with private places. Private businesses are like private homes- and owners of private businesses should be able to do what they wish on their private property, just like in homes.

——————–

Next, Lydia attacks my statement about racial issues having been resolved:

And Mr. Hittle, as far as “having dealt with” racism and segregation: there was a hate crime committed in our glorious state last week: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/03/19/news/top/doc49c2bccc5f6f2850863364.txt This is sad witness to the fact that racism is still very much alive in South Dakota. You are very much incorrect to surmise that this issue has been dealt with.

Unfortunately, Lydia is wrong here, too. We’ve had laws on the books for quite awhile dealing with segregation and discrimination with regard to entering businesses. By “dealt with,” I meant that it was an issue that is not comparable to the smoking ban; and is largely remedied due to laws that are in place. Just because something that is against the law still occurs does not mean that the issue itself has not been “dealt with.” Being “dealt with” does not imply success; it merely implies that SOMETHING has been done to fix it.