[GovernmentShrinker]

Yes, on general principle I don't agree with the smoking ban. But the disappearance of many establishments where smoking, drinking, and gambling are the main activities, can only be good for society. I find the thought of free citizens choosing to spend their free time standing around in bars, drunk, smoking, and pumping their money into government-run lottery machines, absolutely appalling.

[Banjoguy]

...and who is forcing them to do this?
...and who's business is it to control how one spends money and free time?
I find it curious that your characterization of persons who spend time in these establishments is that: 1) they are drunk 2) they are pumping money into lottery ticket machines. This is a skewed assessment to be sure.

[bimbo]

But the disappearance of many establishments where smoking, drinking, and gambling are the main activities, can only be good for society. I find the thought of free citizens choosing to spend their free time standing around in bars, drunk, smoking, and pumping their money into government-run lottery machines, absolutely appalling.

So ... someone appointed you as society’s arbiter on what people can do? Consider that what you find appalling might be meaningless to your neighbor.

[don-o]

I find the thought of free citizens choosing to spend their free time standing around in bars, drunk, smoking, and pumping their money into government-run lottery machines, absolutely appalling.

I find the thought of free citizens choosing to spend their free time sitting in front of a television set in their homes, with their mouths agape, except when they are chewing whatever junk food they rely on for nutrition, absolutely appalling

[grania]

Yes, on general principle I don't agree with the smoking ban. But the disappearance of many establishments where smoking, drinking, and gambling are the main activities, can only be good for society. I find the thought of free citizens choosing to spend their free time standing around in bars, drunk, smoking, and pumping their money into government-run lottery machines, absolutely appalling.

Uhhhh...."government shrinker"....it's neither your business not the business of a government that actually lived by the Constitution what people and establishments do, unless it affects you. Follow the prinicple that a person's right to swing their arm stops at your face.

"Don't criticize what you don't understand" Bob Dylan said that.

It's good to hear that you don't agree with the bans on general principle. But judging people who engage in things you disapprove of is what got us in this nanny-government mess to begin with.

[Eagle Eye]

I find the thought of free citizens choosing to spend their free time standing around in bars, drunk, smoking, and pumping their money into government-run lottery machines, absolutely appalling.

I find the thought of the government barring otherwise free citizens from choosing to spend their free time standing around in bars, drunk, smoking, and pumping their money into government-run lottery machines, absolutely appalling to an exponential degree.

America is quickly becoming an illusion of freedom.

[AFreeBird]

I find the thought of free citizens choosing to spend their free time standing around in bars, drunk, smoking, and pumping their money into government-run lottery machines, absolutely appalling.

Please define "drunk". After work I go to the local watering hole to socialize and take the edge off the day. And since I'm not allowed to smoke at work, I have a smoke with my beer.

If I down 6 beers in 2~3 hours; am I drunk in your eyes? Trust me, I'm not. Oh sure, by some standard on a little machine set to some bureaucrats definition of drunk, I might be, (especially now now that the bureaucrats have lowered that threshold even more) but I'm not sluring my speech, bouncing off walls or walking in zig-zags. And if my state allowed such things, I might also put a dollar or two in the lottery machine, not that I do so on a regular basis. I also go to a casino on occasion when I'm in a town that hosts such establishments. But I don't make a habit out of it.

I suspect the vast majoraty of people you're talking about would fit into my category, so watch it!