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Up in Smoke
On November 7th, most many some of us will go to the polls to vote for governer (don't vote for Ken Blackwell, that guy sucks). Also on the ballot, though, are the infamous Issues 4 and 5. Paige has probably wrung everyone's ear by now about these, but for any of our Ohioans whom she has not yet waylaid, here is a little primer. If you are voting in two weeks, you really probably ought to read this.


Issue 4 is known as Smoke Less Ohio, Issue 5 as Smoke Free Ohio. Both enact restrictions on smoking, and predictably surprisingly neither of their campaigns gives a wholly accurate representation of the other. So first off, you should probably read the text of each issue as it will appear on the ballot.

On the surface of it, Issue 4 seems less restrictive, which would appeal to some peoples' minds (mine included). The key thing to note, though, is that Issue 4 is an amendment to the Ohio constitution, rather than a law. Basically this means that if it is passed, it cannot be easily modified. (That also means if they both pass, the restrictions in Issue 5 that aren't in Issue 4 basically get dropped. That is an important point, which I think that many people aren't clear on.) Now first of all, rules like this definitely do not belong in a constitution. But the main reason this is bad is that basically, the amendment prohibits local governments from enacting their own laws restricting smoking, and wherever there are such laws already in place, it undoes them.

Our system is meant to give governments authority over issues whose effects are local to their jurisdiction; smoking is one such issue. By this model, it should be up to the residents of (e.g.) Cincinnati to decide whether they want a smoking ban in Cincinnati, and the rest of the state can kiss our ass. In point of fact, both Issues suppress this authority to some degree. The difference is that Issue 4 effectively closes the debate forever, and given the controversy currently surrounding public smoking, it is obvious that the debate is far from over.

Now for the most part, we here at crazyfarts.com will go to pretty much any length to avoid expressing a political opinion. However, we do think it would be nice if the world's voters were reasonably well-informed. So in this case (in case I haven't made this clear by now), I'm going against our typical policy of political fence-setting here and advising readers in Ohio to vote NO on Issue 4, because regardless of your feelings about public smoking, it is the wrong approach to this problem. As to whether or not smoking should be banned, I'm not going to go there; so for Issue 5 you are on your own.

If you didn't find that summation very illuminating (and really I'd be surprised if you did), you might check out the Cincinnati Enquirer's take on the matter. They did a better job than I ever could.

Disclaimer: I've done my best to present the facts of the matter as succinctly as possible, but I am thankfully not a lawyer or a politician. If any part of this is incorrect or if I've left out something that is important, please let me know.


Note: If you don't feel like reading my windy monologue, here is a summary: VOTE NO ON ISSUE 4.
 
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