Where are my rights?

reply to post by Darkchemistry


My, what a good example of reasoned discourse! I hope a lot of people get a chance to read it before it disappears. The point is that people tend to make up rights they don't have. No one has the right to put others in harm's way. OP doesn't seem to understand this. She thinks that being in a car isolates her from the rest of the world. Where do you think that smoke goes? Does it just accumulate in the car? Of course not. It seeps out into the air around her.

Now, does that REALLY hurt anyone else. Ya know, I think probably not. It's one of those things where if one person does it, it probably does not make a difference (except for her passenger). If everyone does, then it probably does. But in terms of "rights," the School Board has the "right" to set policy for behavior on school property. The city has the "right" to do the same thing for public space and even private space. For example, many cities have banned smoking in bars. Their rationale is that employees are subject to an unsafe working environment.

Are these laws too intrusive? Frankly, I think the last one clearly is. I see no reason why people, including employees, cannot choose to be in a private space and enjoy smoking if they're not forced to be there. Sometimes democracy is mob rule. If you don't want to see the locals make laws like this, don't keep voting them in.