On Saturday March 24, 2007 the
Smokers Party of Denmark was founded. In the village of Krogsbølle, just 25
miles from Hans Christian Andersens birthplace, a group of dedicated smokers
made history by creating what must be the worlds first smokers party. Its first
goal is to get parliament representation, in order to combat smoking laws.
Let us start by
congratulating the president of the party, Ole Gilberg for his initiative.To
pave the way to succes, a five man strong board has been elected. The task
before it is monumental.
The four hour
founding meeting discussed several topics. Three of them stand out.
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The laws of the party.
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How to get signatures enough to
get on the ballot.
-
How to formulate the policies of
the party.
The laws of
the party
This discussion
took half of the time. It takes considerable effort to formulate a set of laws
for a political party. Starting from scratch is not easy. The only easy part was
the name – Rygerpartiet
Signatures
for the ballot
In order to
qualify for the parliamentary election ballot, 20.000 signatures must be
collected and verified. Fortunately politically experienced individuals gave
tips for this process. This task alone is quite substantial.
The name of the
party has already been approved by the relevant ministry, i.e. the ministry of
internal affairs. So the first step has already been taken.
Policies of
the party
This particular
apsect of the party is the most abstract and challanging. Smokers are very
diverse and represent almost all political colors. How would smokers be able to
unite on a single political platform?
Well, one of
the obvious observations that all the smokers have made is that micromanagement
of the lives of citizens is running haywire. We want to end the micromanagement
of the lives of all citizens. This goes for those that drink alcohol, are obese
or enjoy going out in the sun as well as those who smoke tobacco.
The starting
point is the abolition of smoking laws. The battle for individual liberty begins
there. The Smokers Party ideology is a form of microliberalism (or
micolibertarianism). If the individual does not have the right to manage his own
life as he ses fit, what does the individual have the right to do?
The Smokers
Party is born. Let us see if the child will grow.
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