Bob Beers fighting for Taxpayer's & Anti-smoking ballot measure violates property rights
Inside Liberty Watch Today - June 20, 2006

Bob Beers fighting for Taxpayer's

Bob Beers qualifies his (TASC) Tax and Spending Control amendment this morning, turning in over 150,000 signatures. The TASC amendment will give voters a say on how politicians spend our tax dollars. 

Union bosses immediately announced that they would hold a press conference later this afternoon to inform every one of the ills of TASC, there's a big surprise…union bosses against an amendment that will force government to control spending. 

Jim Gibbons must be going nuts right about now; he came out against the TASC amendment, supporting the union bosses. I wonder how he's going to explain this to the Voters. Maybe he'll finally debate and let us know why we are all wrong and why he's right, we can only hope.

Anti-smoking ballot measure violates property rights

Carson City district judge Bill Maddox handed a partial victory to those wanting a bigger, more intrusive nanny state of Nevada last week by rejecting a challenge to a ballot measure that would ban indoor smoking in Nevada. Rightly, gaming interests, bar owners and convenience store owners got together to declare the smoke-out ballot measure unconstitutional.

But, because Judge Maddox doesn't believe in property rights, the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act will go to the voters Nov. 7 and you can bet that all those busybody, anti-smoking zealots will vote to stifle smoking. And since only twenty percent of the population smokes, it's easy to figure out that the ballot measure will pass: Tyranny of the masses.

According to Anjeanette Damon of the Reno Gazette Journal, "the act would restrict indoor smoking in most public places, including restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, schools and day-care centers."

Act organizers excluded bars that don't serve food and casino floors. But of course virtually every bar in town serves food.

Yes but the petition's goal is to protect children from secondhand smoke according to Michael Hackett, campaign manager of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act. Well of course it does. Never mind that the dangers of second hand smoke have never been proven.

The fact of the matter is if a person doesn't like a smoky environment or doesn't want their kids in a smoky environment, he or she is free not to patronize an establishment that welcomes smokers. As economics professor Ninos P. Malek points out, "if a person knowingly and willingly went to a smoke-filled bar, then they believed the benefits of the environment were greater than the costs of breathing in and smelling like smoke."

It is up to property owners to decide whether they want people smoking on their property.

Nevada is not at the forefront of this lifestyle regulation. For instance, Colorado legislators passed such a bill and the smoking ban in that state is scheduled to start July 1. But, the Mountain States Legal Foundation has filed a suit on behalf of hundreds of tavern owners, saying the ban is unconstitutional because it bans smoking in bars and bingo parlors, but allows it in casinos - a violation of equal-protection statutes in the state and national constitutions, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

Joe Becker, who studied under Hans Hoppe and Murray Rothbard at UNLV, is the Foundation's attorney. He told the Rocky Mountain News that the new law "runs roughshod over property rights, specifically, the rights of the bars, or their landlords, to decide whether to allow smoking."

Shari Warren, owner of Spirit Keeper tavern in Black Forest, worries that the live music scene will wither because many people like to smoke at night when they're listening to music. Some Colorado nightclubs have tried to go smoke-free and failed, according to Warren.

Tavern owner Jim Von Feldt said he doesn't "believe for a second" that nonsmokers will suddenly start flocking to his bar. He is sure that many of his regulars, who are smokers, will stay away. "Would it make you angry if someone took away your livelihood?" he asked. "It's my individual freedom they're taking."

"Each potential customer should have the right to choose whether to come into his bar, knowing that there will be smoking inside," Von Feldt told the Rocky Mountain News.

There is no such thing as a right to a smoke-free environment. There is such a thing as property rights and freedom of association. Whenever government and do-gooder voters try to protect us, and the children, individual freedom is violated.

Doug French, Liberty Watch Columnist


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