Every biennium the Oregon Legislature, swimming in its own sea of incompetence, convenes to tackle the tough issues of the state. And there are many issues to tackle, such as bloated budgets, deficit spending, public safety, mental health, education, taxes. The list goes on and on.
We've done ourselves a great disservice by calling the legislators "law makers." These legislators, now with this fallacious title, take it upon themselves to create new laws. More often than not, these new laws are feel-good laws that chip away at our personal freedoms. These laws are created in lieu of tackling the tough issues.
These laws are created under the guise that they will protect the people. Society has recently come under the belief that they need to be protected by the government.
This year we are trying to ban pit bulls, ban school bullying, and ban driving with cell phones. In the past, we have seen 24/7/356 20 MPH school zones, silly crosswalk laws (the last two have been reversed), going out of business sale regulations, a law that makes it a tougher penalty once you reach 100 mph in a car. As if by passing this artificial number in a unit created in England hundreds of years ago is some sort of magic barrier in the laws of physics.
The smoking ban for all bars is a perfect example of a freedom restraining law. On January 1st, 2009, Oregon went smoke free in all bars. Before this ban, bars and bar owners were allowed to choose whether or not to allow smoking in their establishments. The bars were the last refuge for someone to enjoy a cigarette in a social atmosphere.
Bar patrons were also allowed to choose whether they went to a bar with smoke or one without. Non smoking bars here in Portland have been on the rise for the last decade, as there is a growing population of non smokers who enjoy going out for a cocktail after work. Supply and demand was working, and everyone had their place to go and enjoy.
This balanced system was going along swimmingly, until the Oregon legislature and the anti-smoking zealots got together and formulated a plan to ban smoking in all bars. The angle that finally worked is that they were only doing this to protect the employees.
When bar business is down due to lack of patrons, this does in fact hurt the employee.
I do agree that second hand smoke does have negative health affects on the employee. This person does have a choice, however, to be employed in a smoking environment.
And perhaps there did need to be some measures to protect the employee from harmful work conditions, just as OSHA sets requirements for other occupations under dangerous situations. People who paint cars, or weld, use protective clothing, masks and breathing apparatuses to perform their job. We didn't go out and ban welding in the workplace. We made it safer. Perhaps we should have regulated the PPM of smoke content in a bar. Bars with adequate ventilation would be allowed to have smoking. There are many high ceiling bars, with wonderful ventilation and air scrubbers, where one cannot smell the smoke at all.
Have all of these laws and bans made our life safer? Have they increased the quality of life? I would argue that no, they haven't. In fact, they have made our lives less free, with fewer choices. No one is asked or expected to have personal accountability. We're now in an era where we feel government should tell us what to do. Ask yourself; are you better off now than you were 20 years ago? Do you find yourself saying "well, in the good old days, we used to be able to…" I hope the pendulum swings the opposite direction soon, before it is too late.
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