Court’s Ruling on Banning Cigarette’s on Stage

The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a clearly
unconstitutional ban is deplorable, but worse is the way free-speech
advocates are defending their right. The idea that a compromise can be
reached through the use of fake cigarettes is more offensive than the
blatant attack on individual liberties presented by the ban. When it
comes to freedom of expression, there is no compromise. Either you have
it or you don’t. You don’t have the right to free expression until
someone in the government doesn’t like it, or thinks it hurts public
morale; free speech is an unconditional, uninfringeable individual
right that is fundamental to every other freedom outlined by the
Constitution.

The courts can’t kind of hamper free speech by forcing stage
producers to use fake cigarettes — it’s an outright violation of
rights. If advocates give bureaucrats that ability to hamper free
speech sometimes under some conditions, that gives them the green light
to legislate any number of artistic choices (the music is offensive,
the lights aren’t environmentally friendly, the costumes are too
salacious). Under no circumstances should the government be able to
extinguish the unconditional right of individuals to express their
ideas.