Minnesota is at it again. After being one of the first states to pass a statewide smoking ban, they are now toying with the idea of taking that ban a step further, by prohibiting smoking in cars. Admittedly, it is not quite as bad as it sounds — only cars with children in them would be subject to the law — but the proposal is still significant in that it actually restricts what people can do inside their own vehicle.

I should say from the beginning that I am not a smoker. I still remember all the training I had in fifth grade, when I was taught to “Just Say No” if offered a cigarette. The same course also taught us most people started smoking to be “cool” when, in reality, what it actually does is makes them and their clothing permanently smell like a pile of burning mothballs.

Anyway, my point is I have been programmed to make negative associations with smoking, so, if anything, I should be biased against smoker’s rights. And yet, I still can’t support this newest ban. As far as I am concerned, people should be given the right to do pretty much as they wish, so long as they are aware of the potential consequences. Smokers recognize the health risks of smoking, just as a football player recognizes the risk of injury and as a person who attends a concert in which The Killers will be performing recognizes the risk of hearing terrible music. And none of these actions should be illegal.

But I really shouldn’t even need to make an argument regarding the smoking ban, as the fact that it is a policy developed in the Minnesotan political sphere should be enough to prove it is a bad idea. In case you have somehow not noticed, Minnesota has been a disaster when it comes to their political decision-making, and that has become even more obvious of late.

Over the past few years, Minnesota politics has undergone activity that has — how can I best put this — contrasted activity of parts of the universe inhabited by sane beings. Say what you will about the one-sided, at times near-Marxist, developments in Madison politics, but at least you can link some of these developments to logic. On the other hand, Minnesota has shown a strict, consistent devotion toward trying to show the world just how easy it is for Minnesotan voters and politicians to acquire crack.

First, it was the 1998 gubernatorial election, in which the citizenry decided to elect — why not? — Jesse “The Body” Ventura to office, apparently thinking that no one would have a clearer political mind then someone whose career was centered on absorbing repeated concussions.

Second, was the 2006 gubernatorial election, in which Republican Tim Pawlenty somehow managed to win the same state that at one time actually casted its electoral votes for Walter Mondale for president of the United States although that is only a small part of what made the election so absurd. What made that election so fitting of Minnesota politics was the campaign of candidate Jonathon “The Impaler” Sharkey, who was (surprise!) a former professional wrestler (named “Rocky ‘The Hurricane’ Flash”), and was also a Satanist, a self-proclaimed vampire and ran for office as a representative of the Vampires, Witches, and Pagans Party. (Really).

And as if that wasn’t enough, we now have the highly publicized Al Franken-Norm Coleman recount ordeal, in which Coleman was ahead by several hundred votes after the first count, only to be behind by a similar amount in the recount. Apparently the recount is determined to be somehow more accurate, and as a result it appears Franken may very well be the newest senator in Minnesota, meaning that he will cement himself as the least funny comedian in the history of the world to become a senator, provided Dane Cook or Carlos Mencia don’t run in the future.

Anyway, it is clear through these examples — and countless others — that Minnesota clearly is out of its political mind. A state with a list of eccentricities that long just doesn’t seem that likely to come up with innovative and effective legislation. A state that values time spent in a ring wearing only underwear over actual experience may be incapable of innovation of any kind. Which is why I really shouldn’t even have to argue against that new smoking ban.

Todd Jasperson ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in mathematics.