Here's a good liberal letter from Portland, arguing that majority rights should prevail in the debate over indoor smoking on private property:
I can't wait until Oregon's workplaces are all smoke-free. It's been a long time since a majority of Americans smoked or wanted a smoking work environment.
Creating smoke-free workplaces is in the interest of the health and happiness of employees, and has the support of a majority of Oregonians. Businesses benefit from healthy employees, and Oregon will stay nationally competitive by supporting an idea whose time has come. MIKE MERRILL Northwest Portland
What do you want to bet that people like this would argue that majority rights should not be the deciding factor over same-sex marriage? It's hardly courageous to argue that majority rights ought to trump the minority's when it's an idea you're in favor of, but then argue the opposite when it isn't.
2 comments:
Hey Pete, I don't think majority rights should always prevail. I think that the right thing should prevail. In the case of a smoke-free workplace it happens that the right thing and the majority of people are on the same side. I'm pretty optimistic that some day the same will be true of same-sex marriage, but wouldn't it be awesome if we did the right thing before then?
Frankly, I don't care for the government trying to ban smoking for making everyone happy and well.
I can see that if there are to be laws on health and safety in the workplace, and if evidence shows convincingly enough that passive smoking is dangerous, that smoking in, say, bars can get banned. Otherwise, 'majority opinion' can exert itself by going to places that don't allow smoking.
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