Republicans Expand Their "Freedom" to Smoke in the Capitol

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Some Republican politicians have been loud and vocal the past couple of years in their anger over mandatory inoculations against COVID - such as with the US military - and being told that they must wear face masks in certain settings and situations.  They felt those moves were an attack on their "freedom," while others saw all of the right-wing noise as some sort of demand that they be allowed to maintain the "freedom" to infect others and keep the pandemic going.

As the new US House of Representatives organizes, the Republican Party, currently in the majority, gets to establish the rules for how the House operates.   Apparently one of the new rules established by the GOP is an expansion of public areas within the Capitol building where people may smoke.   Paul Ryan, a former Republican Speaker of the House, had complained about how smoking in the Capitol made the place stink, and his successor in the speakership, Nancy Pelosi, had limited the public spaces in which people were allowed to smoke.

But all of those complaints and limitations sounded more like "woke" culture to certain GOP lawmakers than it did efforts to remove obnoxious odors and create a healthy environment for lawmakers, their employees, and tourists.

Congressmen had always been allowed to smoke and to allow smoking in their offices - that had never changed - but certain Republican congressmen wanted the "freedom" to smoke in other areas of the Capitol as well, so the new Congress quickly expanded the areas in which smoking was allowed.

There used to be a belief among many that one person's rights ended where those of another began - or, you are free to pursue your life choices until they interfere with the rights of others.  Today that seems to no longer be the case.  Today we are dealing with a class of people who believe their "rights" in every area are absolute, and screw you if that's a problem.

The new Congress has removed the metal detectors from the entryways into the House Chamber which cleared the way for guns to be carried onto the House floor.  It has also lifted face mask requirements and even expanded the areas in the Capitol in which people may smoke, both moves which increase the likelihood of harm to members and others in the chamber.    The righteous members who have forced these moves on their colleagues are obviously not "woke," in fact, they are textbook examples of being asleep at the wheel.  If they have no qualms about treating themselves and their colleagues that way, just imagine the horrors that they have in mind for the rest of us!