Column of the year

I'm declaring this one already.

It's about the smoking ban here in Illinois. I agree with every single word of it, so I encourage you to read the whole thing. Here's the first part I'll quote. Surprise:

And yet the smokers are not without hope. Less than a year after Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the smoking ban, and gushed, "This law will save lives. The realities are that smoking kills people...My only regret is that this took so long," the news out of Springfield is that the owners of taverns, casinos and strip clubs may soon be able to buy a "special license" that will allow their patrons to smoke inside.

So all of that talk about saving lives from second-hand smoke was all just a bunch of...second-hand smoke. Or was it just another Chicago-style scam so the state could sell expensive smoking licenses to bowling alley operators? The fact is officeholders thought the smoking ban was a terrific idea -- or at least an efficient way to get those annoying single-issue pressure groupees out of their offices and off their backs -- until they discovered that Illinois would have a budget shortfall of $750 million next year, and learned how much tax revenue the state made off its smokers, boozers, gamblers and stripshow devotees.

Illinois bar owners report that revenue is down in some cases by 50 percent. Casinos report that the ban has caused a 17 percent drop in gaming. I haven't spoken to any strippers recently, but I bet they are feeling the pinch too.

Then there is this later:

These aren't the quaint, looney laws that you read about on the comics page. ("A Kirkland, Illinois, law forbids bees to fly over the village or through any of its streets.") Instead these laws create new classes of criminal behaviors; conduct that only yesterday was perfectly legal. Cynically the state assumes that, with time, the masses will get used to fewer rights, and to an ever-expanding, ever-meddling nanny state. All is well as long we are stripped of our rights gradually and imperceptibly.

Again, I recommend reading the whole thing.