"And that is what this is about... It's our life. We get one chance here, and no one should be able to tell us how to live it."
HOORAH!! :clap:
HOORAH!! :clap:
Massachusetts really where our freedom fight started?
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I think a lot of people have accurately pointed out a lot of the reasons for prohibition. The political effectiveness of do-gooders, insurance companies, politicians (who are smarter than they are given credit for), bankers, etc.
People talk about how freedom loving we Americans are, but I doubt that is truly the case. People want their freedom, sure, but they also demand that their neighbors conform to their ideals. People see evil things happening and want to stop them, and the government IS the only thing that can stop some things, or at least control them somewhat. And uncontrolled personal liberty dies the moment you are talking about societies rather than individuals (which is the theoretical lynchpin of our whole system of government, via the state of nature arguments of Hobbes and Locke). There are no simple answers here. I wish there were. Personally, I buy as much tobacco as I can and hoard it against the day it is no longer available, and given some of the measures that are on the table I am afraid that could be months rather than years!
People talk about how freedom loving we Americans are, but I doubt that is truly the case. People want their freedom, sure, but they also demand that their neighbors conform to their ideals. People see evil things happening and want to stop them, and the government IS the only thing that can stop some things, or at least control them somewhat. And uncontrolled personal liberty dies the moment you are talking about societies rather than individuals (which is the theoretical lynchpin of our whole system of government, via the state of nature arguments of Hobbes and Locke). There are no simple answers here. I wish there were. Personally, I buy as much tobacco as I can and hoard it against the day it is no longer available, and given some of the measures that are on the table I am afraid that could be months rather than years!
Adam Smith, the patron saint of free market capitalism and author of "The Wealth of Nations". Never saw the possibility of a successful "free market" without the oversight of a government with the power and will to regulate it. He said that the interests of business are different from and often in conflict with those of the public and the nation. Business will seek to create monopolies, or "cabals", to abuse the public. They will seek to purchase political influence. When successful they will destroy the very freedoms that they depend on for their survival.
Free market capitalism can only survive where a government is strong enough to provide a level playing field in which the ethical are not driven out by the immoral. As always, bad money drives out good (Gresham's law) without oversight. Pure free market is as impossible a myth as pure socialism. In the real world I come down on the side of free market capitalism.
Free market capitalism can only survive where a government is strong enough to provide a level playing field in which the ethical are not driven out by the immoral. As always, bad money drives out good (Gresham's law) without oversight. Pure free market is as impossible a myth as pure socialism. In the real world I come down on the side of free market capitalism.
Funny the government sees they need to "protect public health"----now. Going into Flagstaff yesterday, I passed the site of a former U.S. uranium mill that sat outside Tuba City. The tailings pile now covered with tons of rock and it's fenced off. There's a sign that says "U.S. DOE, Office of Legacy Management." "Legacy"? What legacy? Oh, yeah, THAT legacy! The legacy of radioactive material getting into the groundwater because of the tailings pile and the uranium mill! People were drinking that water. And that's only one of many up here. They had to remediate an old uranium mine up here in Monument Valley. There's an abandoned uranium mine in Cameron that's hot as a baked potato and the government just acts like, "Oh, really?" There's places out here where there's carnotite all over the place from the uranium mining. You can't mistake it. But people aren't told to steer clear of the sites. That's on top of the atmospheric nuclear weapons tests they did for years, fallout clouds drifting all over the U.S., people died of cancer. You go into some clinics up here and there's a poster up that says "Are You A Downwinder?" A "Downwinder" is a person who was in the path of the fallout from the atmospheric nuclear tests. The government stalled compensation in court until a lot of them died from cancer.
So if the government is concerned about cancer, let them finish cleaning up their own messes first. With smoking, people are knowingly doing that. With things the government does, like the nuke tests and uranium mining, they didn't give anyone a choice and then outright lied about the risks, then covered it up for years and still do. The government just taxes tobacco because it's a great "target of opportunity" to collect cash. In reality, the people of the United States are owed their taxes back for the irreversible genetic damage done by those nuke tests. Everyone knows radiation is a mutagen and causes genetic damage. The government knew that, too, when they were doing the tests. So here they come and want to whine about smoking? Methinks they doth protest too much...
So if the government is concerned about cancer, let them finish cleaning up their own messes first. With smoking, people are knowingly doing that. With things the government does, like the nuke tests and uranium mining, they didn't give anyone a choice and then outright lied about the risks, then covered it up for years and still do. The government just taxes tobacco because it's a great "target of opportunity" to collect cash. In reality, the people of the United States are owed their taxes back for the irreversible genetic damage done by those nuke tests. Everyone knows radiation is a mutagen and causes genetic damage. The government knew that, too, when they were doing the tests. So here they come and want to whine about smoking? Methinks they doth protest too much...
Got to love the nanny state.
Let me guess...
While making the announcement about saving lives, she is 50lbs over weight and drinking an aspartame laden diet soda.
Let me guess...
While making the announcement about saving lives, she is 50lbs over weight and drinking an aspartame laden diet soda.
@gigger48
Ever hear of a secret ballot? A concept cherished by generations of American patriots until asserted by a democrat. Then it becomes a crime?
Ever hear of a secret ballot? A concept cherished by generations of American patriots until asserted by a democrat. Then it becomes a crime?
I must live under a rock, because I live only 10 miles from this town and haven't heard about the ban yet!! Goes to show what a bunch of radical extremists can get accomplished in a small town of about 1500 people.
Like someone already stated, Freedom started here, and it's ending here as well. Sucks. Thank goodness the NH border is only ten minutes away.
Like someone already stated, Freedom started here, and it's ending here as well. Sucks. Thank goodness the NH border is only ten minutes away.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of convenience stores in NH along the MA/NH border that service mostly MA cigarette smokers. I have no idea what the difference in price is between a pack of cigarettes in MA vs a pack of cigarettes in NH, but my hunch is that NH will always "shadow price" MA in terms of tobacco taxation, lest we lose that revenue stream. Plus we currently have no sales tax on most things, unlike in MA.
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