As reported by Reuters, the British Parliament has passed a law that would ban smoking in all "public" places in the nation. This follows on the heels of a smiliar ban in Ireland that became law in 2004.

There are many issues involved here. The first is the fact that with this ban (which still has to go before the House of Lords, but is likely to pass there as well), the principle of private property has been destroyed. "Public" property is properly understood as that which is owned by the state, and which utilizes tax money to operate. Private property is that which is owned privately, which has required one's personal effort to acquire. Stipulating that bars, restaurants and clubs which are privately owned MUST operate under certain conditions runs contrary to the principle that government is created to protect our private property, and we are free to engage in free commerce using this property, as long as the result of the commerce is not to forceably harm the life or property of another.

In addition, this move by the British Parliament (not to be confused with Dr. Funkenstien's band "Parliament", which, of course, produced the hit "Chocolate City") is justified by politicians in England by them saying that under their socialized medical system, they will all be forced to pay for the health care of smokers. This, they believe, will help reduce the number of smokers, and thus cut back on expenses to other people.

We all know that the UK health system is an abysmal failure. It's socialist underpinnings have caused a removal of the price mechanism, and eliminated the necessary requirement of the customer and survice provider dealing with one another in a free market. Instead, the British government takes money in taxes and signs all people up to the commonly held health program. This causes over-utilization, increasing costs, and long delays, which harm everyone. To try to alleviate one of their problems -- paying for the health care of people who willingly take up a risky behavior (smoking) -- the British government is willing to adopt fascism, ie the coercive manipulation of business by the state.

This is a lesson for all of us to learn: one does not do a service to individuals by disregarding the principle of private property ownership, and one does not alleviate the mistakes of socialism by instituting fascism.