Where do our freedoms begin and end?

Michigan's ban on smoking in most public places takes effect on Saturday.  While the non smoking segment of the population (which is now the majority) will welcome the change, a number of smokers object to the new law on philosophical grounds--they see it as part of a continuing erosion of their individual rights.

A bar owner in Hamtramck is hosting a party dubbed the "Last Great American Smokedown" on the eve of the change "as a memorial to Americans' rapidly declining freedom to choose how to live their lives."

But does this move really represent yet another increment in the ever growing power of Big Government?
Let's look at this same principle when applied to a different subject.

Just this week the Legislature passed, and Gov.Granholm has pledged to sign, a ban on sending text messages while driving.  While some might argue it does not go far enough ( it does not forbid use of hand held cell phones), I'm yet to hear anyone object to the new law as an infringement on their freedoms.  Why?  Because a multitude of studies, not to mention most people's casual observation, offer proof positive of the profound dangers of distracted driving--both to driver, her or his passengers AND other nearby motorists.  Clearly, safety for all is the overriding factor. 

Why should smoking be looked any differently?  The only reason I can think of is cultural.  Smoking, while engaged in by fewer people today, still represents a tradition that to some suggest a level of maturity and sophistication--concepts that far predate the first Surgeon General's report in 1964.

But we know far better now. Continued deference to the smoker puts the non smoker involuntarily in harm's way.  As a lifelong nonsmoker, when I'm asked just where I think smokers' rights should end, my answer is "where my lungs begin."