America has reached a point where the basic rights of the majority are being
curtailed because someone, somewhere is offended by something. Some of our new rules and regulations
have reached such absurd extremes that you feel that if you even smile at the wrong person, you may
end up in court, or worse, in jail.
It seems that anyone with a personal ax to grind these days has no problem in taking it to the
politically correct limit. Take, for example, one private grade school on Manhattan's Upper West Side
that recently banned Mother's Day celebrations, and, out of "fairness," Father's Day observances as
well. The reason? A few of the school's students were being raised by same-sex couples, or by one
parent or someone other than their birth parents, and school officials feared they might be offended
by such observances.
Where are the rights of birth mothers and fathers in that decision?
We believe that many of the laws prohibiting discrimination in the United States are extremely
important, and have contributed greatly to creating a more equal society today. In the past 50 years
alone, we have seen laws that have eliminated the Jim Crow regulations in the South, opened the doors
to schools and other public places to people of all creeds and races, and created fairer working
conditions for women and minorities. Those are the good examples.
But we've also seen the disturbing evolution toward increasingly restrictive policies, often taking
antidiscrimination laws far beyond their original intent. Antismoking laws represent one prime
example. When they were first implemented, the laws were designed to separate smokers from nonsmokers.
Where separation wasn't adequate, such as in airplanes and elevators, where there was no true way to
keep smokers
separate, those venues appropriately became nonsmoking areas.
The laws largely succeeded; yet that was not enough for the antitobacco forces. They began to chip
away at what in most circumstances were workable and equitable solutions. Bad science, especially
regarding secondhand smoke, was used to toughen already restrictive regulations.
Take New York City as an example. Its city council implemented one of the most restrictive policies in
the nation in 1995 when it limited smoking in restaurants to those with fewer than 35 seats, or with
areas separated from the main dining area. It meant that in many establishments, diners had to move to
the bar after a meal or leave if they wanted to smoke. It was a repressive plan, but it still
recognized some smokers' -- and restaurant owners' -- rights. Now, the city council, led by its
speaker, Peter Vallone (who is running for mayor), is trying to toughen the restrictions by
prohibiting smoking in all restaurants and restaurant bars, with no exceptions. Restaurant
owners will no longer be allowed to choose to whom they may cater, and smokers once more face
the tyranny of the politically correct.
You have seen what those zero-tolerance laws have done in cities around America: pockets of smokers
standing like outcasts outside their buildings because they can't smoke anywhere indoors. (Some cities
are even trying to ban outdoor smoking!) Slowly but surely, the powers that be are trying to take away
the few remaining rights that smokers have.
What most people fail to realize is that it isn't just smokers' rights that are being threatened. The
targets include everything from what you can say, to what you can do, to what you can eat. (Think of
animal-rights extremists if you want a glimpse of the future.) If any behavior or subject can be
deemed offensive by even a small minority, they raise a clamor and often get their wish to have it
abolished or prohibited.
We live in the Land of the Free. But zealots are destroying those freedoms. What we've said before
bears repeating: defend your rights now, or one day you'll discover that you don't have any left to
defend.
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