Say goodbye to the smoky cafe. France will ban smoking in public places such as cafes and restaurants as of January 2 (technically January 1, but they won’t enforce it that day), in a similar move to Illinois and other American states.
As I previously pointed out and as the comments I received indicate, libertarians take both sides of this issue. Do the business owner’s private property rights trump the patron’s right to breathe clean air in the establishment? If clean air is so important to the customer, can’t she/he choose to visit another restaurant instead? Are smoking bans going against the free market, or are they allowing the government to protect its citizens from harm (which many libertarians, including myself, think is the only job of government)?
A restaurateur in Paris recounts in the above article why the ban goes against his rights as a property owner and against the free market: rather than linger and smoke, customers will hurry to eat and drink and leave (consuming less overall) so that they can smoke elsewhere, which provides him with less business and perhaps France with fewer restaurants and many lost jobs. Of course, it’s possible that people who didn’t smoke were doing just that to get out of the smoke clouds, and business will now pick up– unlikely since the owner explains, “All my customers smoke, all my employees smoke. What are we going to do?” I’m surprised that no case study was done before a nationwide smoking ban was enacted.
One woman who is 51 and has smoked since she was 11 (!) says about the ban:
“The ban on smoking in cafés is the end of a type of person. Now, people think about working more to make more money, being competitive, staying in shape, being good-looking… In France, the café is the one place where classes mix… Everyone is there, from students to grandmas. Now there won’t be all different kinds of people – only thirty-somethings with money.”
A Frenchman sees the ban as a threat to liberty:
“Our motto in France is: liberty, equality, fraternity. The café is the place that represents that. You’re free to smoke, everyone pays the same price for a beer and different kinds of people converse with one another. This new law is a hindrance to that.”
Others say that the ban has worked in other countries with smoking traditions such as Ireland, and has made things better.
I guess we’ll find out.
Tags: France smoking ban, libertarian smoking ban
In take the position that it infringes on the property owners right… and that if customers don;t like smoking in an establishment, they simply do not need to go their.
There desire to be there, does not trump the business owners right to allow smoking if he/she so choices. It would be no different them someone coming into my home and telling me what i must do to accomodate them.
When will people ever understand that they have no right to force others to conform to what they want… especially on private property.
Oh, we don’t have a smoking ban (yet) and the free market is handling the issue just fine… we have some smoking allowed places, some non-smoking… all by choice of the property owner!
Tam
January 2nd, 2008