Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em? Well, maybe not in bars and restaurants in DeKalb and Sycamore if proposed ordinances make it to and past each city’s respective city councils.

The Sycamore council discussed the proposed ban at Monday’s council meeting and a DeKalb group, the DeKalb Smoke-Free Coalition, hopes to present its ideas to the council by September. Smoking bans have made national headlines with a proposed public smoking ban in Chicago. All of this under the guise of public safety, in order to protect employees of bars and restaurants from second-hand smoke inhalation, say proponents of the bans.

What the bans truly represent is the slow erosion of what limited personal liberty Americans still cling to.

Smoking represents the modern-day train alighting question.

At the turn of the century Americans were being told what to do by the government for the first of many times.

One can only imagine the kind of adjustment citizens were required to make as they could no longer decide for themselves when and where they could leap from a moving train.

While governmental interference in the case of the trains may have had the public’s safety at its heart many at the time did not see it that way.

Cigarettes are similar.

Many opponents, including this columnist, see this as unnecessary government intrusion on private life. Besides,

government-enforced prohibition rarely works as intended. Look no further than the “War on Drugs” or alcohol prohibition.

Should the government really be in the business of telling people they cannot smoke because it will kill someone else who is in an establishment that soaks its patrons in a substance that is responsible for far more tragic deaths than second-hand smoke? I think not.

According to a recent University of Toledo study, 23 percent of adult Americans smoke cigarettes, a minority to be sure, but still millions of people.

To put this number in perspective we need look no further than April’s consolidated election turnout.

In the DeKalb mayoral race, 6,044 ballots were cast, which represented about 28 percent of the city’s registered voters.

About 1,390 of those people smoke, if the University of Toledo statistics are utilized.

The margin of victory in that election was 1,153. If the smoking minority gets agitated it is not inconceivable that they could sway the outcomes of local elections. Local politicians might do well to remember this as these proposals begin to materialize before the council.

After all, municipal government must do everything possible to represent all people in the community, including those who did not vote for them and, yes, those who smoke filthy, dirty cigarettes.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.