More Web Comment On Conservative Criticism Of Huckabee Saying He Would Sign A Workplace Smoking Ban As President, If Congress Passed One

This is a comment I posted at another blog http://thinkaware.blogspot.com/ to its post about the Conservative criticism that I mention below of Mike Huckabee saying he would sign a workplace smoking ban if Congress passed it to him as president:

Also, recall that as governor of Arkansas, Huckabeeimposed a smoking ban in the workplace AND also he advised and imposed in government offices, that paid smoking breaks would not only be provided, but so would paid breaks for running or other workouts.

Rob, I was conservative before conservative was cool And I mean a philosop[hical, not just sentimental conservative. Several years ago, The Republican Party got too liberal for me.

I don't like especially FEDERAL intervention on private operations. But as has been said, the article cited misrepresented the position Huckabee took IN THE VERY VIDEO THAT IT LINKED TO!

We can have an abstract ideal about government involvement in the private sphere, but the real fact on the ground are another matter to deal with: I addressed this very issue at my blog this morning at http://www/larryperrault.blogspot.com .

Whatever we may think of it in the abstract, the government has PROMISES IN PLACE about health care provisions in addition to the fact that unhealthy habits are probably the largest factor in American health care costs that amount to 17% of the largest GNP in the history of planet earth. If the federal government is going to honor its promises (wisely made or not), and if America is going to address its unprecedented percentage of GNP in this colossal economy, it is only very basic prudence to address costs on the front end of causes as well as the back end of expenditure.

This is not a matter of nannyism. It's a matter of both pragmatism and humanity. Though on a few points, I intellectually approach matters a little differently from Mike Huckabee (though a lot less often than his rival candidates - talk about not conservative), I am most devoted to Huckabee because he has a combination of conservative principle and character. And he can be elected appealing to a wider crowd than the sliver of the population who think like me. I could be a real Narcissus about my philosophical purity, but I couldn't get elected and couldn't actually accomplish a thing for America.