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Ballot Box Bullies (and Smoking Bans)

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch
what they do."  - Andrew Carnegie

How is it that so many people who are usually nice, well-intentioned, and mild mannered, somehow become tremendous bullies when there is a ballot box between them and their victims?  The very same people who would never dream of personally using aggressive force against their neighbors feel themselves to be virtuous when they promote and support the use of aggressive government force against innocent people.  They believe that an act which would clearly be morally wrong if done by an individual somehow miraculously becomes virtuous if it is done by a majority vote.

I call these people “ballot box bullies”.  They know how to treat people with respect and behave morally right in their personal lives as they associate with their neighbors, friends, and even enemies, but their entire understanding of morality changes when government comes into the picture.  Do they think that having good intentions, acting in a group, and taking a majority vote changes the moral character of the actions they are taking (i.e. might makes right)?  Apparently they do.

Take, for example, the current proposal in Louisville to ban smoking in all restaurants and other privately-owned establishments that offer service to the public.  A ballot box bully, who would respect his neighbor’s right to engage in all sorts of unsavory actions in his own home, considers himself very virtuous when he promotes non-smoking regulations that prevent a nearby restaurant owner from smoking in his own restaurant and from allowing his customers to smoke there.  This ballot box bully would prefer not to encounter smoke when he goes out to eat, so he is more than happy to have the government use force to demand a smoke-free environment for his personal benefit.

Of course, these regulations are an aggressive use of force against a private property owner, stealing his right to operate his business and serve his customers as he thinks best.  When such regulations have been implemented in other places, they have put many restaurants out of business, causing great financial harm to the business owners as well as to the former employees. But the ballot box bully doesn’t care.  In fact, the ballot box bullies consider themselves to be very noble, and they praise each other’s moral superiority as they proceed to steal rights and freedoms from the restaurant owners. 

The bullies say that they aren’t stealing anything from the business owner, since he still has the deed to his property and can still run a business, as long as he does so in accordance with their dictates.  But that is akin to stealing the headlights from someone’s car while telling him that nothing was stolen, because he still has the title to the car and he can still operate it, albeit only in the daylight! 

The ballot box bullies say they are just trying to protect people’s health, but virtually everything we do affects our health.  If caring about health becomes the standard for when it is acceptable to intrude on people’s property rights, then there is no limit at all to the intrusions that can be made at the whim of the majority.  Ballot box bullies could dictate the color you paint your walls (yellow creates stress while blue is soothing); they could dictate the kind of music you play (elevator music will be required); they could dictate the kind of car you could drive (Hummers for everyone, and too bad if you can’t afford one); they could dictate your marriage partner (to ensure that only the appropriate combinations of genes are allowed to merge for the health of the children) – the possibilities are endless!  As long as your view is in the majority, you’ll think things are great.  But look out when your view happens to be in the minority.     

I have no use for smoking – have never smoked, avoid smoky places when possible, and certainly do not want my children to smoke.  I would love not to have to encounter another puff of smoke for the rest of my life.  However, I don’t believe that I have the moral right to organize a democratic mob and to gang up on restaurant owners or anyone else to steal their property rights in order to force them to operate their businesses as I wish. 

As a consumer, I can influence restaurant owners by voting with my money -- spending my money in places that meet my needs the best, or, if I think there is a demand in the market for no-smoking restaurants, I can open up a no-smoking restaurant and see whether I am right.  (These actions are strictly voluntary and involve no use of aggressive force against anyone.)  But I have a moral obligation to respect the right of restaurant owners to cater to different people besides me, including smokers.  If most customers requested a smoke-free environment and only spent their money where they were given such an environment, then most restaurants voluntarily would become smoke-free in order to stay in business.  No force would be required.  And the beauty of such an arrangement would be that it would still permit smokers, who choose to spend their money in smoky restaurants, to do so.  In that way, everyone’s “vote” counts.  It is not an all-or-nothing, win-or-lose proposition.  Every person is treated with respect, even if his views are in the minority.

The use of aggressive force against innocent people may be legal, but it is morally wrong, whether it is done by an individual with an assault weapon or by a group of “nice” people who select their victims by a majority vote.  Only a society that respects the property rights of every person (even those with unpopular habits and tastes) will promote justice and harmony.  Ballot box bullies need to be told that they are not virtuous, no matter how virtuous their intentions.  They are nothing more than bullies, promoting the aggressive use of force against innocent people. 

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch
what they do."  - Andrew Carnegie

“Of government, at least in democratic states, it may be said briefly that it is an agency engaged wholesale, and as a matter of solemn duty, in the performance of acts which all self-respecting individuals refrain from as a matter of common decency.”-- H.L. Mencken

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