Libertarian land ownership theory

[Radar]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Frankly, I'm not worried about my health from second hand smoke. I can't stand the stench which clings to my clothes. I want to be able to go out and have a drink at a bar and come home and not need to have my jacket dry cleaned.

Your right to swing your fist or smoke in a public place ends at the tip of my nose. To expect me to approach every smoker in a bar and get them to pony up their share of my dry cleaning bill is ludicrous and impractical. I don't oppose smoking sections or smoking bars.

For what it's worth I also object to over perfumed and cologned people, and especially to stinky magazines, i.e. the ones with perfume samples. They really hurt my nose, it is like someone shining an extremely bright light in my eyes, it is physically painful.

Would a libertarian society have any laws, and if so, how would it be decided what they were?

Whether or not you personally like it is irrelevant. Your right to keep your nose away from smoke is just fine with me. It means you have a responsibility not to bring your nose into smokey areas. The right of people to smoke does not have a limit at the tip of your nose.

If you go into a bar, you know the bar will have smoke in it before you enter. If you don't want to be around smoke, nobody is forcing you to go into the bar. Likewise, nobody is forcing anyone to apply to work in a smokey bar.

Telling someone they can't smoke in a bar is like telling someone they can't read in a library. The owner of the bar, and nobody else, has legitimate say in the matter. If the owner wants a smoke free bar, he'll get more non-smokers. If he wants to allow smoking in his bar, nobody has any legitimate complaints when they go in and breathe in smoke.