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>I think smoking is the best example here. One of our kids was, maybe, 10 when I spent most of a Phillies in the infirmary with him because someone smoking near us had triggered an asthma attack. It's now been more than a decade since smoking was permitted in the ballpark, and most of the time, we don't even think about it. We were in the Poconos last week and went to have lunch at a place that TripAdvisor recommended. Got there and found signs on the door saying that it allowed smoking (turned out to be a bar with food), so we went elsewhere.


We are in agreement here (as my wife and I are members of the pink lung society). It became obvious over 10 years ago to most restaurant owners that stronger smoking laws would likely help business and not hurt it.


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>I actually attitudes toward homosexuality are in the same rapid change category. Once enough people started coming out as gay that most people turned out to know someone, most people's views changed almost overnight. A few months' back, I read "Then Comes Marriage" about the Windsor case that overturned a key portion of the "Defense of Marriage" Act, written by the principal lawyer for Edie Windsor. The stories in the book about Windsor's life as a gay woman coming of age after the war, and the lawyer's as a gay woman in the 70's and 80's were fascinating. I'm so glad it's better for most gay Americans today.

Here's where I see it differently. I have never had a problem with gay marriage my entire life (then again, I was a libertarian prodigy at age 5). I am slightly suspicious about people who have "evolved their positions" on homosexuality. Yes, I realize that honest people can and do change their minds. But I also know that there are people who change their minds for reasons that are expedient/political.