Smoking Ban in Place- What’s next New Hampshire?

This editorial appeared in the New Hampshire Union Leader, it shows more disapproval with the new direction New Hampshire is headed.

Whether or not you are for or against the new smoking ban in restaurants and bars, the government has no right to intervene in this manner and tell a private business owner how to run his business. If you don’t like smoke go to a place that doesn’t allow smoking because the owner made that decision, not the government. If they do allow smoking, go somewhere else. YOU DO HAVE FREE WILL.

By PAUL LESSARD

HAIL! HAIL! to King John Lynch and his merry group of SS Storm Troopers who have struck at the heart and spirit of the New Hampshire Constitution with their approval on Thursday of the bill to ban smoking in bars and restaurants.

To pass and sign into law a bill telling business owners who their customers will or will not be strikes the heart of a free society. The basic foundation in any free society is to allow people, business owners in particular, the right to decide whom they wish to attract as customers.

Despite the fact that nearly 75 percent of all restaurant and bar owners in New Hampshire have instituted a smoking ban on their own without government intrusion, this Legislature and the governor are about to embark on an uncharted path to destroy the basic foundation of this state.

The edges of the paper upon which the state’s constitution is written have been scorned. The state’s boundary lines have been shaded to the point where one does not know where one neighboring state ends and another begins. We are no longer able to stand proudly and say we are from New Hampshire: the “Live free or die” state.

The “Live free or die” mottoes at the entrances to our state should have black bands placed around them forever, as a basic fundamental individual right has been taken away by these “we know what’s best for you” representatives.

In effect, these elected residents have struck a knife deep into the heart and spirit of the New Hampshire Constitution. The bleeding has begun. The fundamental right to decide one’s own fate is no longer an option. The right to own and operate a business and operate that business to attract specific customers is no more.

New Hampshire’s individual status as a free state has been lost forever. Like the brave folks who tried to defend the Alamo many years ago, we must always remember “the election,” the vote that put into office these traitors to our state constitution and state motto.

These words may seem hash. In fact, they are as hash as the reality of the passage of this bill. There are many folks around this state whose hearts are filled with sadness, as is mine. A sense of hopelessness fills the air that we breathe, for there is this train, a train filled with elected officials hellbent on destroying our basic fundamental right to make decisions on our own.

It’s scary to think of where this train will stop next on its way to eroding personal freedoms. Perhaps the next stop will be at your door.