For the past several years, it seems that rarely a day goes by that I don’t read something in the news about how government, whether at the local, state, or federal level, is once again sticking its nose into the business of the citizenry. When is this crap ever going to stop? Well, that is obviously a rhetorical question and I’ll answer it myself. It probably isn’t going to happen in my lifetime so long as political correctness is dictating policy.

The most recent thing that set me off on writing a commentary about this subject matter is the news that the Department of Defense is considering banning the use of tobacco products by men and women serving in the Armed Forces of the United States. Where are these idiots in charge coming up with these stupid ideas? If any one of you who might be reading this is an advocate of this proposed policy, I would suggest that you quit drinking the Kool-Aid.

As anyone who has ever served in the military knows, men and women going into the Armed Forces, particularly in the enlisted ranks, give up a lot of personal freedoms when they sign up to fight and die for the freedoms that so many people take for granted. And now they want to take away a soldier’s freedom of choice to smoke cigarettes or chew tobacco. Give me a break!!

One of the first things you need to take into consideration is the fact that those military people who use tobacco products probably did so long before they joined the service. Do you really believe the law that requires a person to be 18 years of age before he or she can buy tobacco products has stopped people from smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco before they turn eighteen if they choose to do so? Of course it hasn’t. Just look around you. It has been going on since man first lit up and it is not going to stop.

I’m not an advocate of the use of tobacco products. I wish I had never started the habit. But damn the government that says I can’t do it if I want to. This ongoing war on using tobacco products in this “land of the free” is ridiculous. And now, as I talked about earlier, the government wants to deny another freedom to the very people who are putting their lives on the line every day to protect everybody else’s right to do it.

How in the world can we expect to maintain a voluntary fighting force if we keep whittling away at the freedoms of the fighting man or woman? I can already hear a cacophony of voices yelling out at me that our fighting men and women don’t give up any freedoms when they join the service. Well, shut up and think again, my friends. Admittedly, many of the personal freedoms that are given up are temporary in nature and are, in fact, necessary in the establishment of military discipline. However, many of them are not temporary and some, in fact, are eroding much of the military discipline that has been established during the course of military history. One in particular comes to mind, but I’ll leave that subject for another day and time. Hint: Don’t ask me and I won’t tell you.

Get out of the personal lives of our fighting men and women, Uncle Sam. Let Mom and Dad raise the kids. If they aren’t able to persuade them not to use tobacco products, then so be it. Let them suffer the consequences of their own actions, but don’t write laws that say they cannot do it.