What's that term that describes carrying something to a ridiculous extreme?...oh, yeah, reductio ad absurdum. Won't work here, bud.
No one ever said or even implied that ALL restaurants and bars and casinos and bingo halls and bowling alleys go out of business when smoking bans are imposed by the heavy hand of government, but it's a flat fact that SOME do. These are usually the mom and pop neighborhood places that work on a slim margin of profit and cater to a particular clientele. These are REAL people who work hard for their living and the elitist jackasses who pass sweeping laws like these stomp them into the ground while jerks like you cheer.
According to a recent survey of 300 California bars and taverns, conducted by KPMG Peat Marwick, the employees could do with a little less help.
* Since Jan. 1, 1998, 60 percent of California's bars have lost business.
* Of that group, the average decrease in business has been 26.2 percent.
* 50 percent report increased fights and customer complaints.
* Almost 30 percent have had to lay off employees or cut working hours and shifts.
* 65 percent report a loss of regular customer business.
* Employees in 59 percent of the establishments report losses in tips.
And 40% or more of the bars are flaunting the law. Now the state nannies are scrambling to get the money to figure out how to staunch that little rebellion.
California ain't no poster child for the success of smoking bans, no matter how much you wish it were so.
How are they flaunting the law? Are you suggesting that they've switched to being employee-owned so they can proudly point to the part of the law which exempts employee-owned bars? Or are you saying they flout the law and disregard it altogether?
Now, I happen to also think business owners should have the choice to allow smoking, but I think the default should be non-smoking. When people like you have some problem with reasonable restrictions I could care less about joining any fight to make that an option everywhere. It is the stringent claim that you have a right to smoke anywhere that will cause you to lose that right almost everywhere.