Residents of the Lone Star State of Texas are now required to pluck down $1 per cigarette pack effective January 1, 2007 in addition to the 41 cents that they already pay. Undoubtedly, other States will follow suit.

 

Perhaps, a few smokers will quit and others will do what the West Virginians do and purchase cigarettes from bordering states with lower taxes. Most smokers will grudgingly pluck down the extra money.

Too bad, smokers don’t grow their own tobacco. If they did that, the legislators would outlaw it and treat tobacco growing like marijuana laws. They could create task forces and seize the property of home tobacco growers. Just think about the benefits of job security for lawyers, jailers and the law.

 

I was sound asleep when the New Year rang in. I woke up in time to get on the road and dodge all the drunks in order to get to work at 2 in the morning. Drunks on the road certainly increase the revenue for the states. Perhaps there should be more laws about drinking too much (and not just when driving)?

 

I work in a bakery with all that toxic white flour and sugar. Now that’s an area that legislators can capitalize on. They can create laws on consuming the wrong kinds of food. There can be fines for eating too much and weighing too much. The law can forbid merchants from selling candy bars to minors. Perhaps the law will frown if we don’t exercise enough but "Dang!" I might sprain my ankle or run into a bear while Geocaching on a hiking trail.

 

If we pass laws forcing smokers to change their behavior "for their own good," we need to ask: Where do we stop? I am the only non-smoker in the bakery thus I choose to sit in the smoking room on my breaks  just to have someone to talk to. Both my husbands were smokers and it wouldn’t surprise me if I acquire a third husband who smokes. The horror of all that second hand smoke. Maybe there should be laws forbidding a smoker and nonsmoker to cohabitant with each other.

 

Do I really want more laws that keep me from keeping company with smokers and drinking more than one cup of coffee per day? Life is terminal. So what if I die a few years earlier. I would much rather cross over sooner than linger in some taxpayer supported nursing home.

 

British philosopher and economist, John Stuart Mill, in a slender book published in 1859 titled On Liberty, quoted: "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant."

 

It is not right for the government to keep passing laws forcing smokers to change their behavior "for their own good." It violates a persons rights to make lifestyle choices good or bad. It won’t stop with cigarettes. With that, I am going to have a vegetable sandwich made with the low carb wrap bread alternative that includes spinach before the State of Texas outlaws them.