Tim Utz's View on the Minnesota Statewide Smoking Ban

On the surface, a statewide smoking ban sounds reasonable.Most folks I talk with feel uncomfortable about the Minnesota statewide ban. Infringement of personal choices, liberty, and association are some reasons we are not sure about the state dictating the citizen’s choice and conduct of smoking locations. In addition the state constitution defines the powers of state encroachment upon “We the People”.

I am a non-smoker and I would still vote to repeal the statewide smoking ban. Our constitution and logic (a quality long lost in Saint Paul) dictates free association. Two examples are local watering holes or bars and Middle Eastern Hookah eateries where culture dictates smoking.

As stated before, when government taxes, they legitimize goods, services or products. Restricting, limiting and banning them, they become hypocrisy. Well-intended legislators and lobby groups have long forgotten that “We the People” rule our personal lives, not government. A government's first duty is to protect personal liberty, not dictate conduct.