Missed chance to advance cause

Someone should have reminded lobbyists for the American Cancer Society of some advice from Otto Von Bismarck.
“Politics,” he said back in 1867, “is the art of the possible.”
Note that he said, “possible.” He didn’t say, “perfect.” He said, “possible.”
Indiana had a chance this week to take a step toward a ban on smoking in public places. It was a tentative step, with plenty of exceptions, but it was a step this state has never taken before.
For proponents of a much broader ban, it didn’t go far enough, so they helped kill it.
“We can do better than this,” said a cancer society lobbyist when the bill was shot down.
Maybe.
But it’s worth noting that this was the fifth attempt in five years to limit public smoking in Indiana. And it’s worth noting that this bill had advanced further than any previous attempt.
That’s because the exemptions incorporated in the bill made it politically more palatable to opponents.
Rep. Charlie Brown, the Gary Democrat who has championed a smoking ban for years, is a guy who knows what’s possible in the Indiana General Assembly. And this bill — with all its flaws — would have begun the process of regulating smoking in public places.
With its passage, the debate would have shifted from the merits of the ban to the specifics of the exemptions. And chances are, those exemptions would have been whittled away by future sessions of the legislature.
With its defeat, the all-or-nothing purists can feel righteous for a while. But they’ve done nothing to advance their cause.
Politics, Brown reminded them this week, involves “the art of compromise.”
That’s a lesson Bismarck was trying to teach back in 1867. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]