The other day I was listening to the radio and a commercial came on for a tobacco shop in the area called Custom Blends. Due to restrictions on such ads thanks to the board of health, the FCC, the surgeons general and the other quasi government agencies, they could not talk much about their product line or services. This is nothing new, I remember years ago when laws were passed making it illegal to advertise cigarettes on bill boards here in the Commonwealth of PA.

So this commercial was more of a brief mention that ‘today’s program is brought to you in part by Custom Blends.’ But the thing that struck me about this commercial, besides the fact that they did allow it to air, was that at the end of the commercial they had a tag line that said, “If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you do smoke, smoke smart.” No doubt a government mandate that all tobacco ads must come with now similar to the Surgeon Generals warnings that are strategically placed on every pack of smokes sold in the US.

I don’t care what your personal opinion is on tobacco, I don’t care if you smoke or not, these mandates and restrictions are attacks on individual liberties and they spit in the face of free market capitalism. Imagine a commercial for Ford Motor Company that ended in the line, “If you don’t drive a Ford don’t start. If you do drive, drive smart.” It’s insanity. Ford is the company, automobiles are their product. Who is going to buy a product if the advertisement tells you NOT to buy the product. When are people going to learn that this is not the role of government to save you from yourself!

I know these requirements are designed to prevent kids from starting a non-healthy habit, but it’s not the government’s role! Here’s a foreign concept for you to pack into your pipe and smoke on, Sherlock. If you’re a parent and don’t want your kids smoking how about YOU tell them not to smoke! I think it would come as more of a meaningful conversation than some tag line at the end of a tobacco ad. I am not a big fan of Abraham Lincoln but when he said,

“You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”

The same goes for parenting. When the government assumes the role of parent then parents neglect their role as parents.