Sen. Ted Cruz is unhappy with Donald Trump’s decision to sign an increase in the minimum age for smoking to 21 years of age.
Sigh … Cruz needs to pipe down, get over it and let this policy move forward.
The Texas Republican has posted a Twitter message in which he criticizes the decision, citing the fact that people younger than 21 can go to war, they can fight for the nation and tragically, die in defense of the United States. “But they can’t have a smoke,” Cruz said.
Please. He is equating that argument with the move to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18 in the early 1970s. Proponents of that constitutional amendment cited the same argument Cruz is making about the smoking matter, that young Americans could go to war but couldn’t vote on the geezers in Washington who would send them into battle.
Apples and oranges, senator. You got that?
Trump backed the idea that smokers need to be 21 before they can purchase a pack of smokes. Retailers need to enforce that requirement the way they do the purchase of alcoholic beverages.
The rates of lung disease and assorted ailments related to smoking are climbing among young people, many of whom have been taken in by the vaping craze that is sweeping the nation.
By all means, raise the minimum smoking age to 21.
A word, though, to the president: Stop spelling “smoking” as “smocking” in your tweets. Many of us are with Donald Trump and Congress on this one, but the misspelling detracts from the seriousness of the message being conveyed.
