EDITORIAL: California governor recognizes limits on the Nanny State

Good news on containment of the Nanny State — and from California, of all places.

On Friday, California Gov. Jerry Brown snuffed out efforts to ban smoking at state parks and beaches. For the second year in a row, he vetoed a bill supported by Democratic lawmakers to make criminals out of smokers who light up in those restricted areas.

In his veto message, the governor cited the potential fines, which could reach almost $500, as too punitive. But he also sounded a note of hope for those who believe an overly paternalistic state poses a threat to freedom and individual liberty.

“If people can’t smoke even on a deserted beach, where can they?” Gov. Brown wondered. “There must be some limit to the coercive power of government.”

Amen.

The proposals were preposterous on a number of levels and reveal how many of today’s anti-tobacco crusaders, not content with victory as the number of smokers continues to decline, have allowed their zeal for control to trump concerns about public health.

The two measures that Gov. Brown vetoed “also would have banned smoking cigars, pipes or vaping devices, and the smoking of any plant product,” the San Jose Mercury News reported. The intent was to “protect public health from second-hand smoking and to prevent wildfires and reduce litter,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

But there are already statutes on the books that deal with litter. It’s true that the California Coastal Commission found that, between 1989 and 2014, cigarette butts made up 37 percent of the items collected in beach cleanup efforts. But if that number remains high even as more and more people give up the habit, how about enforcing existing litter laws, rather than punishing responsible smokers?

And why ban e-cigarettes? There are no butts to toss aside, no matches, lighters or ashes that might ignite the brush. The “second-hand smoke” is harmless water vapor.

In fact, this had nothing to do with second-hand smoke, litter or wildfires — as the attempt to ostracize vapors reveals. Rather, it’s all about using state compulsion to impose a patronizing “we know what’s best for you” morality on those who wish to retain the freedom to make their own lifestyle choices while doing no harm to others.

Gov. Brown deserves a round of applause for finally recognizing that an ever-expanding Nanny State would indeed have many distasteful drawbacks.