The Madison Smoking Ban

From the Blog of Nate, a post from a liberal Marquette alumnus who appears to be a principled liberal. Blogger Nate Romano, a law school student at Madison, notes the double standard of some of his liberal and leftist friends on the Madison smoking ban:

Me? I opposed it on principle. I don’t smoke; I don’t like to be around cigarette smoke, especially when I’m eating or drinking. But, I was content to either (a) go to the one or two bars downtown that were smoke-free by choice or (b) to choose to be slightly discomforted (and smelly) but with my friends who do smoke. For some odd reason, my more progressive friends didn’t quite understand that this latter option was firmly “pro-choice” and supported the ban with all their might — the more “pro-life” (or at least “pro-healthy life”) position. Yet one more sad example of how ideology and polarization now trumps ideas and principles.

This is why we refuse to call pro-abortion people “pro-choice.” They simply are not pro-choice.

They aren’t pro-choice on guns, they are not pro-choice on schools, and they are not pro-choice on smoking. They are simply people who happen to think that abortion is OK.

We don’t call people on the other side “pro-life” either. We just call them “anti-abortion.”