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The Freedom Campaign

By George Baumler

  An effort has been launched in Louisville to protect small businesses, especially bars and restaurants, from the machinations of the militant anti-smoking fanatics.  Its first meeting held at TK's pub in the cigar room was organized by Jeff Klusmeier, a Republican candidate in the 2002 metro council race.  The meeting outlined the Freedom Campaign's objectives and strategies.  The major goal is to head off a smoking ban, such as the one passed in Lexington, in the Louisville Metro area.  "Such bans are an affront to private businesses" say some supporters of the campaign.

  The smoking bans directly impact taverns, bars, and restaurants, which are private businesses.  The anti-smoking zealots declare that these are public facilities since the public patronizes these private establishments.  This is a small part of an ongoing effort by the leftists to minimize and eventually do away with property rights altogether.  The effort to ban smoking is couched in terms of protecting the employees' health, but in point of fact, businesses that close their doors due to lack of customers don't hire employees.  The “save the children”, save our farm-land, save our lungs, trees, spotted owls, swampland, (fill in the blank) crowd historically has been hostile to private ownership of any kind.  You can bet the farm that smoking isn't the last thing on the agenda of things to be banned.

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