Did you know that Issues 4 and 5 are about more than smoking?
Yes, it's true: Issues 4 and 5 are both about the rights of cities and local communities to make responsible decisions without the interference of the nanny state. These ballot issues may seem to be very different: Issue 4 is a pro-smoking constitutional amendment sponsored by Big Tobacco, and Issue 5 is an anti-smoking constitutional amendment sponsored by public health advocates. The one thing that these issues have in common is the willingness to trample all over the rights of local government. Issue 4 would make it impossible for local communities to prohibit public smoking and Issue 5 would make it impossible for local communities to permit public smoking. These issues are just two more examples of big government assuming that individual communities are incapable of making the best decisions for their particular circumstances.
There's so much going on in Ohio and throughout the nation. Our military men and women ' people we all know ' are dying in Iraq. Our jobs are being shipped overseas. The cost of education is skyrocketing. Both our state government and our federal government have been rocked by scandal. Big government at all levels has demonstrated its utter inability to govern effectively, and yet now we're presented with constitutional amendments asking us to let the state tell every local community in Ohio what's best for its circumstances.
That's why we need to vote no on both Issues 4 and 5. It's not just a vote about smoking. It's a vote about our democracy and the right of local communities to make responsible decisions for themselves. The alternative is letting the state and federal governments make all the decisions ' and we've all seen how well that's been going.
'Nathan Nelson is a freshman political science major at Ohio University's Eastern Campus.
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Letter to the Editor
