Unintended Consequences

 

It was several years back when, in Toledo, Ohio, a vote was taken as to whether or not to allow smoking in public places, specifically, in bars and bowling alleys.  At that time there were already enclosed areas in restaurants to allow smoking, as the law, at that time, was that people could smoke as long as the establishment had an enclosed area for such purposes.  These enclosed areas had legal requirements for proper ventilation, but, overall, it was a solution that everyone could live with...Or so the smokers thought.

 

As is the norm in the United States, the busybodies and the do-gooders just couldn't leave well enough alone.  The idea that anyone should be allowed to smoke in an area that was designated for the smokers, an area that blocked the smoke from effecting anyone who didn't want to be around it, was simply no solution.  I don't know why it wasn't a solution, but I guess that there are those people who categorically must have their way, even when a reasonable solution works for everyone.

 

The issue was put on the ballot and, in a surprising twist, the people of Toledo voted against taking away the rights of smokers.  The issue to stop smoking in bars and bowling alleys was defeated.

 

That should have been the end of it...

 

Doubling their efforts, the busybodies and the do-gooders got the local newspaper, The Blade, on their side and they proceeded to throw even more money at the issue.  Through their efforts, they were able to get the issue put on the next ballot.  With their usual flair for propaganda and rhetoric, they pushed their agenda through and this time around, the voters upheld the issue and smoking in any public place was banned.

 

That wasn't all, though.  The laws were written in such a way as to ensure that no smoker could smoke a cigarette in any enclosed structure, which removed the possibility of having any kind of shelter, even like those of bus stop shelters (3 walls and a roof).  These laws made sure that smokers would be required to stand out in the open, regardless of weather conditions, making life as miserable for smokers as was humanly possible, all because they choose to do something that is 100% legal.  Smokers became second class citizens with absolutely no consideration for even the possibility that they have rights, too.

 

So be it.  The people had spoken (even though they had spoken once, just not in the way that the busybodies and do-gooders and The Blade required them to).

 

This brings us to the present day.  Lately, commercials have been airing explaining that we now have a problem with cigarette butt pollution.  It appears that smokers, having no place to go with their filthy habit, now simply pitch their butts on the ground; the unintended consequence of making a law that treats law abiding citizens poorly.

 

I find it deliciously humorous that smokers are being asked to treat our land with courtesy and respect, when absolutely no courtesy or respect has been paid to the smokers.  It's as if someone said, "Hey, I'm going to bend you over and give it to you hard, but please be nice to me."  Do you see the problem?

 

Unintended consequences.  Happens all the time when the busybodies, the do-gooders, and the myopic law makers charge straight ahead with no understanding that what they do will have very real aftereffects in the future.  Sadly, nobody seems to take this into account these days.  History really does repeat itself.

 

For my own part, I find great pleasure in the thought that every man, woman, and child should go out, buy a pack of cigarettes and dump them all about.  It's time that we, as a people, realized that when we make laws to hurt one part of the citizenry, a part that is doing absolutely nothing illegal, a part that we can find honest solutions as to how to live together in peace, has very real consequences in the real world.

 

History tells us that we won't realize this, though.  Unintended consequences.  Avoidable, but never avoided.

 

The human condition.