Originally posted by Airhead
Except that bars and restaurants aren't private clubs, they're open to the public and, thus, subject to regulation. A private club is like the VFW, and smoking is allowed in those.
How do you feel about health inspections in restaurants? You must be opposed, right?
I gotta run, but I'll address this later. It's a good discussion. Civil, even, for the most part. 
Bars and restaurants are not private clubs, but they are private. If you make a legal distinction between the two, what's to stop a bar owner from declaring his bar a private club and then offering free memberships on the spot, which he can revoke at any time?
Bars are private. The owner can ask you to leave at any time, and you are free to not go there. As such, the government has no business regulating it.
As for health inspections, it's a mixed bag. If restaurants all disclosed their food preparation practices health inspections would not be necessary. It's dishonesty in preparation that could be regulated, not the preparation itself. If a restaurant drops your food on the floor and serves it to you anyhow, without telling you, they've done something wrong. But if they post a sign saying "all food may have been dropped on the floor," you as an intelligent adult can make an informed decision as to whether or not you want to eat there, no inspection or government nannying necessary beyond ensuring that the restaurant is not misleading you.
Gotta go as well. We'll continue this civil discussion later, commie poopyhead.
