why i smoke cigarettes

I'm not committed to too many things in this life. I like to write, I like to have a great time, and I like to smoke cigarettes. It's my life, that's how I choose to lead it.
So it's stupid to some people. They say it'll probably kill me off early. But not, of course, before I succumb to a long, painful demise. And that'll be that for me.
I'll no longer be a living being with personal opinions or with the ability to voice them. I'll just become another dead body, another statistic for them to parlay into anti-smoking propaganda. Them, those self-righteous bearers of "Truth." They'll find out I died by cigarette, and they'll say, "Mark it down, the death sticks got another one. If only he'd listened better, maybe we could have saved him from himself..."
I don't need that to happen. I don't need anyone to save me from myself. I'm a human being fortunate enough to live in America. This place is a nation, or was a nation, where we all citizens should have the "unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Where the little guy, as Hamilton once wrote, should be protected from the "tyranny of the majority." Why can't this self-destructive minority be allowed to choose such a path?
Now, I'm imagining you reading this, and I'd figure that right about now you're saying something like, "But merkel, what about second-hand smoke?"
Well, what about it? It happens. If a private business opts to have a smoking section, that's their choice, just as it's my choice to smoke in the smoking section, just as it's everyone else's choice to not go into a restaurant or bar that promotes cigarette smoking. I understand that second-hand smoke is a problem for everyone. It's bad for non-smokers because it's physically bad for non-smokers. It's bad for smokers because despite the legality of our practice, we're being black-listed and forced at least 25 feet away from just about every building in America.
It seems that we're dangerously close to outlawing cigarettes. It won't happen for a while, of course, because the government can't stop raping the tobacco industries for tax money now.
But if it did happen, if cigarettes were banned in America, think of the injustice. Sure, we'd all be healthier without cigarettes. And while we're aiming for a healthier America, why not have an all-out trans-fat ban to follow close behind that, because we'd have people wanting to protect us from obesity. And then we'd repeal the 21st Amendment because of those people assuring us that drinking is pretty damn bad for everyone too. And then they'd say that we may as well ban books, because written words very well may be the most dangerous substance on earth.
I'm rehashing these tired dystopia conventions because they're so, so true. It's a slippery slope to the bottom, and now we're on a fairly level plane.
I titled this post, "why i smoke cigarettes," and until now, I've provided no explanation as to why I actually do what I do. It's a public display of revolt. If people see me smoking, or smell me smoking, and they get mad it's as refreshing as my first drag of the day. I do it because I can, because I like it, and for what it's worth, I smoke because it makes me feel free, and the feeling of freedom is worth living every day.