Smoking causes cancer. Secondhand smoke causes cancer. I hate
smoking, and I constantly criticize my friends who smoke cancer
sticks, because it may eventually kill them, and it makes
everything and everyone around them stink.

I agree with having some smoking restrictions. Particularly, an
airline restriction would be nice, because the passenger cabin is a
closed space, so there is no way to avoid the smoke if another
person lights up. I also agree with office building restrictions,
because it affects other people, and smoking is not part of the
job.

However, as much as I hate it when my friends smoke, they are
adults. They have the right to make the decision to smoke, and it
is not the government’s place to tell them they cannot smoke at a
bar. When I go to the bars Tuesday night or Saturday night, it is
my choice to go to the bar. I go out because I enjoy the drink
specials, I enjoy the atmosphere and I enjoy spending time with my
friends.

I make the choice to go to the bars. I make this choice knowing
I will be around smokers, and my clothes will likely stink at the
end of the night.

But, I make the choice. I’m not forced into this environment. If
I just wanted to drink, it would not be difficult to go to a liquor
store. If I wanted to spend time with friends, there are always a
few sheep that do not go out.

I have also worked in a bar. Again, I made the choice to work in
that bar knowing people would be smoking. No one forced me to work
there, certainly not the government. The $5.25 an hour I was being
paid didn’t force me to work at the bar.

Students do not need City Council members like Ald. Todd
Jarrell, District 8, or Ald. Tom Powell, District 5, making our
health decisions. Jarrell says he is in favor of a smoking ban
because he has seen the reports on secondhand smoke. He isn’t a
doctor, and he wasn’t elected to be my doctor or my conscious.

In fact, Jarrell and Powell were elected by students to
represent students. If Jarrell was doing this for students who work
at bars, why didn’t we see any of these students at Tuesday night’s
City Council meeting when the issue was supposed to be decided?

Yet, for Jarrell and Powell, this is only one of many issues
where they have not represented students’ best interests. Last
year’s State Street redesign comes to mind as another issue where
they ignored what their constituents desired.

Government is supposed to help society run in an orderly
fashion, not over-regulate every aspect of life. Government should
be protecting small-business owners and should be encouraging
people to run small businesses, not trying to cripple them through
over-regulation.

Allowing government intervention only leads to more government
interference. It briefly reached epidemic proportions in Montgomery
County in Maryland this summer.

Before reversing its decision because of intense political
pressure, the County Board voted to ban smoking in private homes.
Under the law, a person could be fined up to $750 for each time a
neighbor complained about smelling tobacco smoke coming from a
person’s home.

I may find smoking unattractive, and I may hate the smell it
leaves, but this is not an issue about personal feelings. This is
about government overstepping its bounds and taking away individual
choice.

Montgomery County is the closest we have come to that Orwellian
“Big Brother” society we fear, but the Madison City Council’s
desire to over-regulate is pushing us in a similar direction.

However, we thankfully live in a country that believes in
democracy. When our elected officials attempt to intrude on our
lives we can vote them out of office.

Maybe “our” city representatives will keep this in mind when the
smoking ban comes to a vote at the next City Council meeting. If
they do not, students will give these elected officials plenty of
time to consider their decision after the next City Council
election.

Matt Modell ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in
journalism and political science. He is in Washington, D.C. this
fall for an internship.