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Selling Tobacco Online - Double Secret Attack
20
September 2006
Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales
have became the new frontier for the U.S. government,
searching for more ways to fleece taxpayers, the
government now has a direct financial interest in
seeing big tobacco companies prosper.
Thanks to the
so-called master settlement agreement, which ended
the threat of state lawsuits against tobacco
companies, government now reaps a generous cut of
their profits from Online tobacco
and online cigarettes sales. In essence, increased
Online tobacco
and online cigarettes sales
from the big tobacco companies flow directly into
government coffers.
When government
do-gooders look at products like Online tobacco
and online cigarettes, there are
basically two strategies to prevent individuals from
using harmful products.
One way respects
individual freedom allowing Online tobacco and
online cigarettes sales, while the other replaces it with
government coercion. Not surprisingly, government’s
financial interest in tobacco has increasingly led
it to choose the latter in recent years.
The first path of allowing
Online tobacco and online
cigarettes sales
involves providing individuals with the information
they need to make an informed choice on whether or
not to use specific tobacco products.
Then, the
choice-based approach simply conveys this
information to the public and allows individuals to
exercise their own best judgment on how to balance
the risks of tobacco against the enjoyment derived
from using it.
Fundamentally,
Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales
is no different from how we treat high-cholesterol
foods, long-distance driving, air travel, use of
power tools or any of the myriad other potentially
dangerous activities in which individuals choose to
participate.
The second approach
to tobacco regulation rests on using the power of
government to force individuals not to purchase through
Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales.
Of course, advocates of this anti-freedom approach
realize it is difficult if not impossible for
government to simply outlaw products that
millions of Americans choose to use.
Instead of outlawing
Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales,
they move to restrict its use and
raise its costs to the point that individuals pay a
heavy price in dollars and convenience if they
choose to smoke.
Online tobacco and
online cigarettes sales
is a win-win situation for government bureaucrats, because they
can say they are “fighting smoking,” when what they
are really doing is raising taxes and shielding big
tobacco companies by keeping competitors out of the
marketplace.
This project began
with draconian bans on smoking, first in public
buildings, then in restaurants and bars, and now
even in outdoor public places like beaches and
parksand trying to put an end to Online tobacco and online
cigarettes sales. It continued with efforts to hike taxes on
cigarettes to absurd levels, ensuring that
politicians would get a payoff for doing the bidding
of so-called “public health” advocates.
The latest front in
this battle involves companies that provide
opportunities for individuals to purchase Online tobacco and
online cigarettes sales.
Online tobacco and
online cigarettes sales
companies, which allow consumers to purchase through
the phone and online, are the distribution
backbone for smaller, independent manufacturers that
offer lower-priced products than major, well-known
brands. These independents rely on
direct-to-consumer Online tobacco and online cigarettes
sales to build a following,
because they don’t have access to massive retail
distribution controlled by Big Tobacco.
Shutting down Online
tobacco and online cigarettes sales
has long been a goal sought by both Big
Tobacco and Big Government. Independent
manufacturers, and the competition they represent,
would be decimated if the Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales
companies were put out of business.
Additionally,
Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales companies expand consumer choice
in tobacco products. Organic cigarettes and
hand-rolled cigars are just some of the products
individuals are able to enjoy only if they obtain
them through the mail.
Not surprisingly,
those who would control our actions from federal
offices in Washington were not and are not content
to allow the market to function without
interference. They have joined with big tobacco
companies to shut down smaller companies that engage
in Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales,
entrepreneurs who sell tobacco
products online and through the mail.
Rather than tackle
the Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales
issue openly and fairly, the anti-freedom forces
have chosen postal-reform legislation currently
moving through Congress as their vehicle of choice
through which to cut Online tobacco and online
cigarettes sales firms off at
the knees. This bill is intended to make the U.S.
Postal Service start
acting like a modern corporation.
At the behest of big
tobacco and its special-interest lobbying dollars,
however, some members of Congress are attempting to
insert a rider onto the postal reform bill that will
shut down Online tobacco and online cigarettes
sales companies that compete with
major cigarette manufacturers.
Tacking an
Online tobacco and online cigarettes sales
measure onto postal-reform
legislation takes a well-intended reform measure and
turns it into a secret attack on the principle
that consumers should be able to decide
for themselves what is and is not healthy behavior.
Whether one likes or dislikes tobacco products,
allowing government watch dogs in cahoots with private
industry to play favorites and decimate competition
should not be a part of the game. Conferees who
will be considering the postal-reform legislation
should resist efforts to make them a party to such
underhanded tactics allowing regulated Online tobacco
and online cigarettes sales.
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