Good catch by Mr. Duss, who notices Jonah Goldberg saying, "In Europe and Canada, the cure for every malady seems to be multiculturalism. This is the odd notion that all cultures are equal -- except for that of your own nation, which should be made to constantly bend to the aggrieved sensibilities of minority cultures. In Vancouver, Canada, smoking has been banned pretty much everywhere, except in Muslim-run hookah parlors." Maybe Jonah should wander around sunny Washington, DC (I hear he lives there!), where an excess of multiculturalism has led to precisely the same outcome! Or not. What happened is this: DC, like many other states, like many European nations, banned smoking in bars, on the ground that its indirect costs to non-smokers were too grave. But they left exceptions for establishments were smoking was not an indirect cost, but a major source of income. So: Hookah bars, cigar shops, etc. If smoking instruments comprise a certain amount of the business's income, they're allowed, because they're no longer imposing an indirect cost, but are a direct draw. It's not multiculturalism, but a mixture of democratic principles, in which voters can ban smoking in public places as it harms their health, and capitalism, in which businesses should retain the ability to sell their goods for a profit. And it's not only in Canada, and not only in DC, but also in such bastions of multiculturalism as Cottonwood, Alabama, and the state of Arizona. On the other hand, this may be another of Jonah's "impressionistic, travelogue-esque piece[s]" that I'm trying "to make it into a definitive argument," rather than dismissing as "a mere meditation." I really wish he'd label these things. --Ezra Klein
