Here in Madison, the CRG Network is assisting local citizens with a Mayoral recall effort subsequent to his implementation of a total smoking ban in all business operations. The GRG Network acquired 6,135 City Council emails about the smoking ban and found anti-smoking activist Ira Sharenow sent 3,536 of them.
Madison Smoking Ban Email Analysis: Table 2 shows that the top five e-mailer senders represented over 84% of all e-mails with one sender alone accounting for nearly 60% of the total. It should be noted that this lone sender is anti-tobacco lobbyist Ira Sharenow who reportedly now resides in the state of California.The email data makes a strong case that the smoking ban is a victory for political activism rather than a reflection of public desire. This should not be that much of surprise because Mayor Cieslewicz and many of the City Council come directly from activist backgrounds. For them, politics is about winning policy victories, not about serving the true wishes of the citizens they nominally represent.
The smoking ban in Madison and other Wisconsin communities achieves a major goal of the anti-smoking movement. That goal is the expressed desire to make indoor smoking socially unacceptable. Stymied by the limits of persuasion, the anti-smoking movement is embracing prohibition whenever local government allows them the option. The history of the movement in this State is spelled out in detail in this report by the University of Wisconsin located on the City of Madison website.
Influence of the Tobacco Industry on Wisconsin Tobacco Control PoliciesThe broad story line turns in 1986 when the movement decides to change their approach, proclaiming that a group right to be free of second hand smoke is more important than an individual right to pursue happiness. As always, when collective rights are defined as an absolutely good value, it becomes possible to justify intolerance of dissenting individuals.
Hat Tip: Boots and Sabers
