I am tired of cigarette smoke at Virginia’s dining establishments. I am tired
of watery eyes, irritated lungs, and smelling like a smoldering ash tray after
dinner. Fortunately for me, my governor is leading the way with legislation to
ban smoking in restaurants. Unfortunately for me, the powerful restaurant and
tobacco lobbies disagree with my governor and contribute wisely to members of
the state legislature to maintain the smoky status quo.

The libertarian (special interest sell-outs) CATO Institute submitted
an opinion article to the WashPost today suggesting that the Governor’s
suggested policy is a bad idea that robs us of our freedom to choose to smoke.
That’s a cute way to frame it, ‘those nannycrats want to take away our freedom
to choose to smoke.’ They suggest that individuals should be able to choose
establishments that allow smoking or visit those that don’t. The market will
force restaurateurs to decide their own tobacco protocols.

I believe their argument is critically flawed for any number
of public health and legal reasons, but I’ll play along with CATO for some fun
today.

Let’s let CATO have their way, let the free market decide
which restaurateur’s survive the smoking wars. But in the interest of free
market economics and public health we should require establishments to post and
publish that they are a SMOKING PERMITTED location. After all it was the great
conservative economist Milton Friedman who wrote the classic, Capitalism & Freedom,
which said that in order for a free market to succeed there must be a free and
robust exchange of information. Let CATO have their way but require smoking
restaurants to post the attached warning sign on their front door where all
patrons can see that this location offers the freedom to smoke. Also we should
require these restaurants post the warning in all of their advertisements as a
disclaimer so that potential consumers can carefully evaluate their dining
plans and freely choose the best option for them based on the full information.
Potential employees to locations that are filled with second hand smoke should
be fully advised during the hiring process that their employment will lead to
increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease.

Failure to adequately advise patrons and employees of the
health risks associated with entering, eating and working at the establishment
would best be remedied in the civil legal arena. I don’t think the government
should get involved in enforcing fines on businesses that fail to comply with
the information requirement. Let’s let the legal entrepreneurs, trial lawyers,
take cases and sue for damages on behalf of second hand smoke victims.

What would the CATO Institute have to say about my free
market solution? I bet they love the notion of trial lawyers suing Applebees
for the millions they should owe the victims of second hand smoke. Ditto for
the restaurant lobby.