Reply to Critique of OhioPIRG

To the Editors:

While I appreciate Sally Abrahamson’s critique of smoking (as a recently converted non-smoker) I have to take issue with her argument that people necessarily need to, “Live by the morals you want us to pay you to implement.”

Ralph Nader once said that, “our society has more problems than it should tolerate and more solutions than it uses.” Part of the reason for this is arguments such as Sally Abrahamson’s that exclude all but the most personally virtuous from participation in democratic society. Should people not vote if they do not have perfect information? Should we not demand that our politicians meet standards of honesty and accountability that we (at times) might fail to meet?

I think not. We should all seek to improve ourselves as individuals and as organizations and people like Sally Abrahamson should keep pressure on us to do so. But while we seek to improve ourselves, we should not be fearful of engaging the broader society as well and demanding a better world for all of us.

Neither individuals nor society as a whole will ever be perfect, but we can be a lot closer then we are now. To get there we need everyone to be engaged in the project of improving our society, not just the vegans and non-smokers.

–Winston Vaughan
College senior