Dogs in the Manger

There are some good arguments for a ban on smoking in restaurants -- and some bad ones. Del. Joe May recently relayed perhaps the worst reason of all.

"I've had a number of restaurant owners and operators contact me about supporting it because they say it keeps them from having to do it," May said, according to Leesburg Today. "I have heard that from more than one owner or operator."

So: Some restaurant owners want to ban smoking in their own establishments -- as they have every right to do. But they don't have the guts to set the rules in their own houses. So they want the state to do it for them.

Not only that: They want the state to ban smoking in all other restaurants too, merely to achieve their own more limited aim.

Thus, in order to avoid standing up for themselves, they want the state to ban smoking even in restaurants whose owners and customers want to let smoking continue.

That's not only cowardly, it's self-centered in the extreme.

Aesop, who lived more than 2,500 years ago, would view today's debate on smoking with a knowing nod. He foretold it in his fable about the dog in the manger.