It's a truism in politics that by the time Congress acts on something, it is too late -- look for the evidence, and you'll usually find that whatever problem being addressed is already on the way to a solution from somewhere else. That probably applies to state legislatures as well. So, with city after city in Indiana enacting public-smoking bans, the General Assembly suddenly discovers a problem needing a statewide solution:
Health advocates on Tuesday hailed a proposed statewide smoking ban as a positive step for public health, while others opposed it, saying that government shouldn't be involved.
At the same time, at least one health expert wondered what agency would enforce the ban, and what penalties those who violated it would suffer.
Health advocates on Tuesday hailed a proposed statewide smoking ban as a positive step for public health, while others opposed it, saying that government shouldn't be involved.At the same time, at least one health expert wondered what agency would enforce the ban, and what penalties those who violated it would suffer.
And, of course, by the time the cities got around to their bans, the marketplace was already moving, with establishments responding to customers' wishes by banning smoking or creating non-smoking sections. So many states have now enacted bans that Congress is bound to determine any day now that there is a problem requiring a nationwide ban. But wait:
He noted that bans across Ireland, Scotland, Italy and soon in England, show global consensus: "We all have seen that we can't have people harming people with secondhand smoke."
I have obviously been thinking too small. This is clearly a mission for the United Nations.
