[Age of Reason]

The larger picture is not whether second hand smoke is dangerous or not.

Because even if it were not dangerous (and I am not ready to concede that point)--even were it not dangerous, the opponents of smoking would still seek laws against smokers on the basis of the offensive odor of cigarette smoke, if nothing else.

The real problem here is this: The denser the population, the more a person's habits and activities will irritate others, and the more those others will turn to big government as a means to control you.

[Mears]

Oh,Lord,you are really opening up a can of worms now.

Why don't you come right out and say it."It's the smell,stupid,not the danger".

[Old Professer]

And now the nanny-class has a new cause - suburbsn sprawl; to alleviate it they are conducting massive surveys with the anticipated result being a change in local zoning laws that will force people back into high-density housing to protect the new commons they hope to create from the then worthless (unbuildable) land.

Light up! While you can.

[aruanan]

The real problem here is this: The denser the population, the more a person's habits and activities will irritate others, and the more those others will turn to big government as a means to control you.

At its most dense, population in the developed countries is less dense and more private than it was a hundred years ago.

[Modernman]

The real problem here is this: The denser the population, the more a person's habits and activities will irritate others, and the more those others will turn to big government as a means to control you.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Smoking bans seem to have started in bigger, densely-populated cities. I think when you stick more people together, you need more rules, and some of these rules are going to be pretty burdensome.

People being what they are, I don't see any other solution, in a lot of cases.

[Publius6961]

The denser the population, the more a person's habits and activities will irritate others, and the more those others will turn to big government as a means to control you.

That's wonderful!
Let me know when we reach the "offensive" threshhold for the disgustingly obese, the ugly, the cellulite farms, the huge noses...

Maybe there is a silver lining to all this.