Editor,
The issue of smoking isn't about money or health, it's about choice. I hear liberals constantly arguing for "a woman's right to choose", well how about "a business owner's right to choose?"
I understand that second hand smoke is dangerous and that maybe business will go up if a smoking ban is enacted, but it is not up to the state to make that choice. It isn't the People's Launchpad or the State's Brewster's Pub and this isn't the People's Republic of Albuquerque. This is a free country and when government dictates to business if they can allow smoking on their property, we have eroded a fundamental right to choose and to freely associate.
If a person goes into a smoking bar and doesn't like it, then I suggest that they tell the owners "I am leaving because there is too much smoke in here." Maybe then we can remediate smoking the right way, by business owners deciding it is the best way for them to do business. In a free-market system, like I thought we had -- that is the way things work.
Personally, I don't frequent bars or nightclubs because of the smoke and all the drunken people. It's an atmosphere I choose not to go into.
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Sharon Bailey
UNM alumna
