By elvenstar522
Citizens of Chicago salute their overseers and slavemasters – the City government – and breathlessly await the arrival of their beloved Gauleiter, Richard Daley.

Resent the Nazi analogy, my Chicago friends? Too bad. If the shoe fits, goosestep in it:

Chicago Park District commissioners approved a smoking ban Wednesday for the city’s beaches and park-run playgrounds.

The ban takes effect immediately. If caught smoking within 15 feet of a beach or a playground, smokers can be fined up to $500.

Park officials made their plans for the ban public Tuesday, saying the restriction would not only protect children from second-hand smoke but also keep beaches free of cigarette butts. The nicotine-containing cigarette butts can be ingested by children, are eaten by wildlife and can leach into the water, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, which does beach cleanups that sift out thousands of discarded cigarette butts every year.

Parks Supt. Tim Mitchell said Wednesday he’s received a few complaints from smokers.

“To these people, I’m very sorry,” he said. “For me, it’s about the children.”

No, Mr. Superintendent you lying weasel. It’s not “about the children.” If it were “about the children” YOU WOULD BAN SMOKING AND MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO SELL AND USE CIGARETTES!

And just to carry the Nazi analogy one step further, guess how this law is going to be enforced?

The penalty for violating the ban is a $500 fine.

Enforcement relies on citizens to turn smokers in to police.

I wonder if the Citizen Enforcers are going to be wearing brown shirts when patrolling the beaches and parks looking for smoking scofflaws?

And as long as you’re doing it “for the children,” maybe we should involve the little tykes and get them to become government informants. Nothing like getting the kiddies started early, that’s what I say. By the time they’re grown-ups, they’ll be used to turning in their fellow citizens for a variety of crimes.

This is not about protecting children, or wildlife, or the water supply. The towering hypocrisy it takes to make that argument with a straight face makes me sick to my stomach. This is about government trying to regulate behavior – to control the personal lives of others. Why? Because they can, that’s why.

The fact that you might wholeheartedly agree with the efforts to control the personal behavior of others when it comes to smoking only shows you are as ignorant as you are a threat to liberty. Ignorant because these same busybodies who are running around telling people how to live their lives have their sights set on “curing” obesity now.

And there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that before long, they will be digging in to your personal choices about what to eat – all “for the children” of course. They will be hectoring you about your snack habits, your choice of soft drink, perhaps even ban a few of your favorite food items. Think I’m kidding? You obviously haven’t been paying attention. Regulating fat content is only the beginning. Before long, you’re going to try and put your foot down, saying “Enough!” but it will be too late. The momentum is all on their side plus, “it’s for the children” is usually enough to close off the argument then and there.

To those who can’t see the threat to freedom these bans entail – bans not really related to public health or environmental concerns but to the idea that government has the capability to ride roughshod over individual rights whenever it sees fit – I pity you. You will go on, thinking yourself smugly superior to those second class citizens who smoke, cheering on your government as they strip them of their liberty bit by bit – all the while totally oblivious to the threat to your freedoms growing on the horizon.

A tipping point is approaching – a point of no return where these behavioral Nazis will have accumulated so much power and influence that all of us will be at their mercy. Whatever they deem inappropriate or unhealthy or even just undesirable, they will go after with a vengeance. The smoking bans are just whetting their appetites. And I hate to think what will happen when they start feasting on you.