LETTER: Smoking bans a sign of a lazy politician

http://www.onalaskalife.com/articles/2008/08/14/opinion/evanslte.txt

Published - Thursday, August 14, 2008
LETTER: Smoking bans a sign of a lazy politician
By RYAN EVANS St. Croix Falls, Wis.

.This past weekend I found myself pondering the current surge in smoking bans, and more importantly the nature of the people who push so hard for them around the state. After all, this has become a very nonpartisan issue, yet the people involved all seemed to have something in common. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

And then I had an epiphany. They are lazy. All the pieces fit and it makes perfect sense. The groundwork for tobacco is already all laid out. It’s been public enemy No. 1 for so long that all one has to do is hitch one’s wagon to it and ride the wave.

With absolutely no effort whatsoever, a politician can make their mark by going after smokers and “big tobacco” and come out smelling like a rose. After all, now said politician can look like Mr. Compassion (it’s for the children), Mr. Community (it’s for public health), Mr. Labor (it’s for the workers), and Mr. Do Good (tobacco is bad, I’m good). And all this can come just from jumping on the great anti-tobacco movement.

Whatever happened to politicians actually working for the people who elected them? Is it too much to ask for our elected officials to do actual work and make a real difference in our state (or cities)?

Sure, we have got some serious problems to address in Wisconsin — and admittedly those problems will take hard work to shore up — but last time I checked we elected people to work for us, not for their own glory.

So the next time I hear an elected politician — whether in Madison or in a town hall — take up the smoking ban cause, the first thing that will come to mind is “lazy politician.”