Smoke em if you got em....for now

Greenfield is trying to mimic Indianapolis. Sprawling commercial sites right off the interstate. A Wal-Mart Supercenter and Home Depot within walking distance of each other. A Starbucks, an Applebee's, and a smoking ban. Wait a second, did you say loss of property rights??

It looks like the Greenfield City Council is proposing a smoking ban on par with that of the one introduced by the Indianapolis City-County Council earlier this year. A sweeping ban, that would ban smoking in private businesses as well as public places.

Now I understand that some of the land in Greenfield is city-owned, and they have a right to say what will and won't happen on their property. But for the City Council to tell a private businessman, such as a restaurant or a tavern owner, how to run his business, well that's socialism.

What worries me more is that "small-government" Republicans are seriously considering this measure. This ordinance would only increase the role of government in Greenfield. My grandfather gave me some sage advice, if you don't like what someone is doing, get away from it. In a nutshell, if you don't like going to restaurants with smoking, don't go there, or order the food to go and enjoy it at home.

Property rights have been rapidly eroding, and the Democrats and Republicans are doing nothing to protect homeowners (Kelo v. New London) or businesses (smoking bans). Only Libertarians protect citizens from ther overreach of government.