Yea, me too!
Posted on 11/10/2007 8:15:04 PM PST by Bowtie52
Less than a month ago, Congress planned to ram through a tobacco tax that would have all but killed the cigar industry. The outrageousness of the tax they intended to levee on tobacco products was intended to be crippling. Cigarettes as well, were to sustain a .50 to $1.50 per pack increase. Ostensibly, this tax was to fund a health care package for children. The link between socialized health care for kids and tobacco smokers has not yet been made clear, not so for the intentions of Congress.
Recently, rumor has it that Mike Huckabee who has billed himself as the great hope of the Christians or Evangelicals or Right wing nuts or whatever label the press has assigned them this week, has publicly called for a ban on smoking in all public areas. While the merits of tobacco smoking are completely arguable, the term “freedom” is not nearly so nebulas.
While the Democratic Congress has made no secret of their intent to loose the war in Iraq, support the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and explode the concept or religion of global warming as an immediate threat, they have not been nearly as accountable for doing their jobs. So far, they have passed several non-binding resolutions regarding Iraq, surpassed prediction of the wildest, most obscene package of earmarks of any Congress etc. The problem is that, to date, they have yet to deliver the budget items to the President or secure the peoples business. It seems that anything beyond their pale of responsibility is plausible yet those things for which they are responsible are left to languish and take second place to party politics. Now, Congress seems to have focused their attention on smokers.
After re-reading the Constitution, there were no hidden clauses or sub-texts found that allude to Congress taking a position, one way or the other, regarding smoking. Since smokers have not united and claimed victim or minority status, the individuals who do smoke are simply individuals and as such, subject to Congressional steamrolling. Today, smokers are feeling the hot, foul and corrupt breath of Congress as it breaths down the back of their necks. Who will feel it tomorrow? There is a very unhealthy trend here. The unhealthiness of it is far more lethal than any tobacco product could ever be.
At some point the American people are going to either be content to be spoon fed by the government or reclaim their God given rights to their heritage. Certainly, the freedom to smoke should not be a contentious issue. The concept of the typical American who chooses to indulge in tobacco products, having to bow to economic pressure inflicted on them by their own government, is diametrically opposed to the concept of freedom. We should not forget the price hike of the mid 90’s where the price of cigarettes doubled. Who won the proceeds of that event? The attorneys who brought the suit! Those dollars were billed as going to some worthwhile charity at that time as well. Congress is supposed to be responsible TO THE PEOPLE, not the other way around! A choice needs to be made. With the technological advances being made today in personal surveillance and personal information retrieval, a line must be drawn somewhere before American’s become robotic extensions of Congressional will.
Thanks for the ping!
It'll be great! Outlaw tobacco! Prohibition on alcohol worked so good that it put the Mafia in business, big-time!
After alcohol was re-legalized, the ban on the other drugs was stepped-up, and has proved to be an outstanding success - for mobsters!
Lessee, a 'speakeasy' was a place where one went to enjoy the pleasures of and consume illegal alcohol. A 'crack-house' today is a place where one can do illegal drugs.
What do we call the place where the 'illegal tobacco' is enjoyed in the future? A 'greenhouse'? .................................... FRegards
I agree!!! Time we had a Smoke-In! There are so many trip wires on so many issues its a toss-up which one will spark the revolt.
Oh, I think that a time will come (likely sooner rather than later) where punitive taxes passed on tobacco products will reach a point of diminishing returns - and at such a point it would be far more profitable for the government to simply sieze the assets of those who would produce, distribute, or consume tobacco products.
I could be wrong - I certainly hope I am.
Then who is going to make up the difference?????
Yea, me too!
Yea, me too!
The taxpayer. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that?
There are those who hate cigarette smokers and who are proto-fascist when it comes to others not toeing the line of their own peculiar form of moral codex. You’ll meet them. They’re tolerable in a forum, but if you’d meet them in a dark alley, keep your hand on the safety.
Listen, I have been fighting this for over 15 years. Are you being a smart aze to me?
Why should cigarette smokers pay for a health care package for "children".
Why not just tax Democrats/ left wing lunatics and the parents of these "children" who want this health care package instead?
If taxing smokers is constitutional, then taxing Democrats is too.
You’re not allowed to smoke...........except Marijuana.
The hate that antis direct towards smokers will backfire. Push the smoker too far and an unequal, opposite reaction will occur.
A pack of cigarettes costs $11.25 in Canada. I don't see any "diminished returns" happening there. I do see poor people even poorer, and in poorer health because they have to eat cheaper, crappy food in order to afford that pack of cigarettes.
But you won't see the tobacco Nazi's in Canada acknowledging that they are actually killing these people faster through excess taxation. They claim instead it's to pay for their health care.
Stalin is alive and well in Canada, and has his foot well in the door in the USA as well.
Smoking ONE joint is the equivalent to smoking an entire pack of cigarettes. That's what the anti-smoking people say, so by golly it's true. It's no wonder pot heads cough out a lung every time they pass a joint around. They hack away, tears coming from their eyes, and say (Hack, wheeze, cough)"good chit man". HACK! COUGH COUGH! "yah dude, good chit".
I don't smoke, can't stand it, don't think it's wise, but I can't see any justification for banning it or essentially taxing it out of existance except greed and/or tyranny. Life is awful short to be legislating folks from such an activity.
Yeah right. Just like those fierce smokers in Canada did, right? They rose up, hacking and coughing, and stormed the government offices, seizing them until all tobacco taxes were removed... Well, they wanted too, but couldn't afford the bus fare.
The government knows they can tax you as much as they want on cigs, and you will do nothing but bitch and moan about it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.