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Ryan Evans: Founders of America didn't intend to 'level playing field'

Letter to the editor  —  4/19/2008 8:17 am

Why must everything be fair?

We continue to hear the bizarre calls for a "level playing field" when it comes to smoking bans, but doesn't that really just defeat the purpose of local government? If everything were equal and level, why even have local government? Why not just have each state impose totalitarian rule over their entire "property" and dissolve all local governance?

Of course I'm being facetious, but only because this is the mentality that is permeating our state. I'm not even a smoker, but I believe in individual rights over group rights. Our country was created to ensure the rights of an individual and not a group.

Read the Federalist Papers. Learn and understand what individual rights means and learn what limited government means. Understand that the role of government is not to take care of you and protect you from annoyances.

For those who are interested in understanding how America was designed to protect the people from minority or majority rule (and why this is important to the smoking ban fight), read Federalist 10. In it, James Madison talks about the troubles caused by minority or majority factions driven by a common passion.

The Founders built this country to be able to resist such things -- yet somehow we have allowed this to erode completely.

What's worse is that we're teaching our kids to go against the Founders' vision for America. I wonder if federalism and the foundations of America are even taught in school any longer when a state university newspaper prints this:

"Doyle must also push through a statewide smoking ban. A statewide ban would smooth out the legal differences across municipalities with smoking bans, while ensuring uniform health standards in Wisconsin businesses."

Uniformity was not the intention of America. If one local government makes a choice, it is not up to the state to equalize things because the next city makes a different choice. That is one of the wonders of being free to live and to make choices.

Ryan Evans

research director, Ban

the Ban Wisconsin Inc.

St. Croix Falls

Letter to the editor  —  4/19/2008 8:17 am