I smoke cigarettes. It is my choice to do so and I am very well aware of the risks of smoking. I might not be smoking them in a few weeks, though.

The current administration in Washington decided a few months ago that “fire safe cigarettes” (FSC) are now the only choice for people who want to light up.

I was having a cigarette one afternoon about six weeks ago and a county worker was telling me about additives in cigarettes and how this new additive was just one more in the already long list of things we pollute our lungs with.

I was puffing on an additive-free cigarette at the time, but didn’t want to interrupt his point. Then it dawned on me: they did it without really telling us.

I heard a snippet on the radio about FSCs, but that was it. No posters in stores telling people about how there was going to be a switch or commercials telling us about how it was being done to save nearly 5,000 lives a year.

If it was such a good thing, then why not say so?

I bought a pack and tried an FSC. It tasted worse than cigarettes normally taste and I had a tickle in the back of my throat the next day like the one you get before you come down with a cold.

After I went out and bought several cartons of non-FSC smokes before the official switchover, I started to research the things.

Turns out that our current president, who smoked and quit and admits to falling off the wagon, rammed this federal mandate on the American pubic without a vote by We the People or even a debate.

Sounds all too familiar. I view the healthcare debate in the same light.

Do I want to save thousands of lives by offering healthcare to people? Yes.

But do I want it done the way it went down two weeks ago with hardly any public debate and in a rushed fashion? Absolutely not.

We have lived under the guise of Freedom of Choice in this country for many, many years. But I feel those freedoms are being pulled back at an alarming rate in strange ways that go against the way our republic was originally set up.

Where should I begin? How about the Brady Bill, which limited freedom of what guns we could own in a country founded by gun-carrying citizens who fought a tyrant king who wanted to mandate what we do in our own back yard.

The Patriot Act was supposed to keep us safe from terrorists and so far it has, thank goodness. But it gave those with the access the ability to dive deep into our personal lives if they chose to do so.

The healthcare bill is supposed to give those who are without insurance the ability to have healthcare. But it mandates that everyone has to have healthcare and be able to prove such.

I do not accept the healthcare option from my employer because my wife has a better plan at her job. Am I now supposed to purchase it and waste many hundreds of dollars a month to prove to Uncle Sam that I can go to the doctor all by myself and have insurance pick up most of the tab because I pay into my company’s program?

Why not offer the non-insured the option of getting on Congress’ top-notch insurance program?

This country was originally set up for our representatives to go to Washington and do just that: represent their constituents. I—and many others—feel that is no longer the case.

The federal government is in charge of schools now. Seeing how they run things makes me not at all surprised that many politicians’ children attend private schools.

This county just passed a resolution that states that the federal government has no right to order someone to have healthcare. I applaud that.

This county also already has a law on the books that says it will provide the means for those without insurance to have healthcare.

Elected leaders made that choice years ago and it works. It is also a big reason for developing a new, state-of-the-art hospital in the area. This county stands up for its citizens.

Standing up for what you believe is right is an intrinsic part of The American Dream. When elected officials stand by what their constituents want then act on it, the system is working.

But when laws are made without consulting us first, then it borders on an authoritarian regime.

It is mandated that you drive a certain speed to save lives. So is wearing your seatbelt and not drinking while driving and, soon, not texting while driving.

Those laws were all done to save lives, and rightfully so. But they were not voted on by the people.

Neither was mandated healthcare or putting carpet glue in FSC cigarettes that are already filled with poisons other than nicotine in order to save a few thousands of lives.

How many more will develop cancer quicker from the carpet glue?

How did it come to this? Where have our liberties gone? Up in smoke.