This wasn't enough for the parasites making a living off Big Smoking Ban. New frontiers had to be found and goal posts had to be constantly moved to guarantee their sinecures.
Each of these demands was a further encroachment of property rights, but since smokers had been so thoroughly demonized by Big Smoking Ban, this tyranny of the majority was allowed to infect the body politic like a fungus.
Attempts to rationalize these bans encourage the growth and hasten the rot.
It was working somewhat, but such ventilation systems rarely did a good job of keeping the smell of smoke out of the non-smoking areas that border the smoking areas.
People who smoke or are around the smell a lot get used to the smell and don't even notice it. However, something that a smoker can't even smell can still ruin the taste of someone else's meal.
Since you may not get sat near the smoking section most of the time, or the smoke from the smoking section might not be bad a lot of the time, the smoke wasn't enough to drive a lot of customers away. However, it was enough to get a lot of people very irritated with smokers. Those instances where some idiot lights up a cigar or pipe and stinks up the entire restaurant with a cloud of smoke before the management comes over and asks them to put it out also leave a lot of people with bitter feelings even though they are a small percentage of smokers.
I voted against the smoking ban, but I'm not sad that I can now eat in a nice restaurant and enjoy my meal without having so smell someone else's smoke.
This wasn't enough for the parasites making a living off Big Smoking Ban. New frontiers had to be found and goal posts had to be constantly moved to guarantee their sinecures.
That's the nature of the progressive movement. They aren't happy unless they are making more and more progress in gaining control over people's lives, and they are quite happy to advance their goals through lies and deceit.
However, on this particular topic, they got a lot of support from non-progressives that were simply sick of other people's dirty habits effecting them.
Attempts to rationalize these bans encourage the growth and hasten the rot.
You know, let me just make something clear. Opposed the smoking ban because I respect the property owner's right to determine if smoking is allowed on their property or not. I support the right to do a lot of things that I don't approve of. I support them because I support people having the right to do such things, not because I support those people and what the are doing.
Smoking is a dirty and disgusting habit and those who inconsiderately smoke in public places despite how it effects others are inconsiderate at best.
Most smoking bands weren't just voted in by legislators pandering to special interest groups. Sure the special interest groups made the most noise, but smoking bans are getting put in place by a real grassroots majority that are simply sick of other people's dirty habit effecting them.
I hate to see the government gain more power over people, but as more people live closer together and are more effected by what their neighbor does, we're going to see more and more such things unless people start learning to be more considerate of how their actions effect others.