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“All across the country, proprietors, landlords and residents associations are privately, voluntarily implementing smoking bans,” says the Cato Institute’s Tom Firey (surely no pun intended). “Because those actions are voluntary and private, market forces will lead to the provision of establishments and housing for both nonsmokers and smokers. This is fitting in a free society that values choice and respects the individual. It also protects public health — people who don’t want to be around tobacco smoke, whether out of health concerns or dislike of the smell and nuisance, don’t ave to be around tobacco smoke.
How exactly does the market protect the health of smokers’ children? I don’t think that question refutes Cato’s case, because not everything that’s bad for kids can be outlawed without producing even worse effects — but it does suggest that libertarians have a shallow understanding of the way people live together.
