First of all, smoking in bars is hardly akin to having brothels and opium dens.
Likewise, the majority of the public does not want smoking in bars and restaurants. Some folks may want it, but they are out of luck.
Who is this majority of the public? Are we talking statistical majority (if so, where are the numbers?) or are we talking vocal "majority"? Sort of like the majority who wanted prohibition, eh?
Look: people know what to expect when they walk into a bar. A bar is for drinking and smoking and other potentially nasty habits. If folks don't want to deal with that, then they should stay home or go to a Starbucks instead. This smoking-ban-in-bars thing is friggin' ridiculous.
I was in a bar several months ago, smoking and having a beer just like everyone else around me and some preppy punk said something about my cigarette smoke offending him. Now mind you, the air in that place was positively pea-soup thick and had been long before I walked in. I refrained from exhaling in his face and replied "then why are you here? Find some other place where nobody is smoking. There are plenty. Don't chase ME out just to suit YOU. You know what to expect when you walk in here." He backed off right quick.
Me, taking a libertarian line???? ROFLMAO. Even my husband, who is a registered Libertarian would find the implication hilarious.
If believing in the right of a propety owner and the right of free assembly and association is offensive to some people, all I can say is that it is their problem not mine.
A majority voted in favor of Prohibition, and then later a majority voted against Prohibition. That's the way the system works.
Look: people know what to expect when they walk into a bar. A bar is for drinking and smoking and other potentially nasty habits.
A bunch of those other nasty habits are probably illegal too. Does the fact they occur in a bar make them OK?