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To: metesky
"...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

Thank you for this quote. It is exactly what I needed. Non-smokers are citizens, and they have the rights of citizenship under the Constition,including the right of representation with their representatives. In other words, they have the right to seek laws when not expressly forbade by the US Constitution.

97 posted on 06/24/2002 10:57:45 AM PDT by Don Myers
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To: Don Myers
including the right of representation with their representatives.

Correct up to a point. The "representative" may not pass a (consittutional) law that subjugates any of the rights of the individual. Government is supposed to be, in actuality, nothing more than the collective power of the people and of the states used to guarantee the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of the people. It should not be able to dictate matters of personal behavior nor should it be able to intrude into/onto private property. We understood this concept in this Country until roughly 1913 when the federal government began sticking its collective nose into the everyday lives of US Citizens. The federal government that our founders envisioned was to have practically no interference with the daily lives of people and the individual states were not given much more power than the feds. As we have become a nation of whiners, convinced that the "government" can save us from unwanted circumstance, we have forgotten the principles and beliefs that our forebearers fought and died for. Sadly, to our own detriment.

101 posted on 06/24/2002 11:08:26 AM PDT by KentuckyWoman
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To: Don Myers
In other words, they have the right to seek laws when not expressly forbade by the US Constitution.

When Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, the original line was "that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of property;".

The delegates thought this to obvious and contentious and Franklin and I believe Madison were drafted to sweet talk Jefferson into changing the wording to, "that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;".

They agreed that no one would be ignorant enough to ignore property as the foremost right, the linchpin of all free societies.

After reading your illogical rambling, I see that they were wrong.

146 posted on 06/24/2002 12:10:06 PM PDT by metesky
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To: Don Myers
Non-smokers are citizens, and they have the rights of citizenship under the Constition,including the right of representation with their representatives

You are forgetting that owners of bars an restaurants are also citizens.

219 posted on 06/24/2002 6:29:39 PM PDT by Gabz
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