OPEN COLUMN
Smoking ban in businesses a constitutional necessity

Editor, the Tribune: Inspired by Kevin Welch’s diatribe against the proposed limitation of smoking in businesses within the city, I must argue the relationship of the ban to the intentional order of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Smoking is a proven threat to life, limits the liberties of non-smokers (for example, the right to safe air) and can simply be denoted as a "pursuit of (instant gratification? sadistic pleasure?) happiness" for those who choose it.

Has Welch’s outrage never been tempered by personally affecting circumstances of life and death? Were he to have a child with severe asthma, for example, he might more readily appreciate the existence and order of constitutional protections and not denigrate the champions of an international public health issue or trivialize this issue with irrelevant economic comparisons. His arguments also don’t take into account existing government health standards - food handling and preparation, sanitation and safety - designed to safeguard customer well-being.

A basic framework for protecting life (health), liberty (freedoms and choices) and the pursuit of happiness (personal preferences) is not only necessary for social order but for the very well-being of every member. That constitutional logic is threatened daily by the ranting ignorance of domineering individualists is a testament to their lack of respect for the ideal of the greater good - a value our constitutional democracy was designed to uphold foremost.

The smoking ban is an essential social discipline required to protect the greater good, and as a grateful American citizen, I heartily, healthfully support it.

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Ann Marie Long

503 Taylor St.

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