Proposed Smoking Ban in Virginia-Bad For Business February 9, 2009
Virginia has under consideration a ban on smoking in restaraunts.
Bad idea.
Look. I don’t smoke and hate the smell. I think its a disgusting, harmful habit. I personally would not choose to eat in a restaraunt that allows any smoking.
But….
If a business owner makes a choice to allow smoking in his restaraunt and then employees make their free choice to work there and patrons make their free choice to spend there money at the restaraunt, where’s the problem?
Its very, very dangerous to allow government to interfere with the free market economy. Today’s its smoking, tomorrow it might be what color you can paint your walls.
No one has the “right” to a smoke free restaraunt that they can freely choose to enter or not. It is not an invasion of your personal right to a smoke free meal when you knowingly and willingly enter a restaruant where smoking is allowed.
Again, I wouldn’t go there. I wouldn’t spend my money there. I would tell my friend not to go there. But I don’t have the right to tell the owner what to do or not do with his capital. And since the government derives its right from the citizens, it doesn’t have that right, either.
Posted Under: capitalism,entrepreneurship,success thinking
Reader Comments
About 6-7 years ago a smoking ban was adopted in bars and restaurants in my town, Lexington, Kentucky. I recall that prior to adoption of the ban my favorite and the best pizza place in town advertised that there was no smoking in their restaurant. I presume it did so because the owner figured out it was best for his business. After the ban was adopted and until the repeat offender costs were amended and made prohibitive, a number of bars intentionally violated the ban because the cost of compliance they deemed was greater than paying the fine at court. What’s the answer: probably that each business owner should decide for themselves.