I realize that injecting political views into any discussion is bound to hurt feelings, but I also think we are at a point where it be hooves us all to put on our big-girl panties and focus on the peril at hand- and that peril is, unfortunately, politically driven.
I've followed all 364 pages of this thread. It is the thread, in fact, that brought me back to this site after a long hiatus.
It's no surprise that there are posters here from both sides of the aisle (and even some, like me, who think both sides are filled with traitors and claim neither).
There are, of course, the inevitable 'some who shall remain unnamed' who just want to throw unguided blows with no regard who they land on.
Then there are some who seem to be tired of the fact that it is their normal 'side' who are to blame for much of this, and appear to be resentful for the frequent reminder.
To the first, I would say that there are no reasons to throw blows here, at all. We are ALL on the same side here- the right side. Even if someone is made aware of the political leanings of their chosen party, and still choose to support them, that is ok. We don't have to be one-issue voters. As big a deal as this seems right now, there are other important issues on which to weigh your vote, and you shouldn't vilify someone who may vote a certain way even if it is in support of candidates who don't support vaping.
To the second 'group', I would just offer that this thread, more than maybe any other single point-of-contact on the internet, has been an intellectual discourse on what these new regulations mean and what we can do about them. The simple fact, that has made itself readily apparent muiltiple times, is that the Democrat party's votes have proven them to be against vaping.
This is all, of course, not to say that one can depend on R=pro and D=anti on the topic of vaping, but it is proving to be a very reliable rule of thumb. It would be a shame to ignore this fact, in a discussion about resistance to these regulations, just because it hurts some feelings.
I'd actually go one step further and say that we need a board-sticky pointing out this trend to make as many people aware of it as possible.
While the individual does not need to be a single-issue voter and/or their issue does not necessarily need to be vaping, but this community MUST be, and that issue MUST be vaping.
Flash-forward to January 2017, even if Cole-Bishop were to pass into law in 2016, if a Democrat president, and Democrat lead-house and senate are elected, it WILL be undone. That is fact.
I'm not a Republican. I'm firmly independent, study the issues, and normally vote libertarian where there is an option, but this cycle is too important for me to vote for candidates that have no chance of winning. With the potential for up to 4 SCOTUS seats, serious gun control issues on the gov't radar, and, now, this threat against my (very) delicate mastery over my tobacco addiction at risk, I will be voting R, straight down the ticket.
Regardless how an individual weighs the issues and chooses to cast their vote, the community, and, to whit, this board MUST be single-issue. Failure to recognize the obvious implications of R v. D on this specific issue would just be an illustration of the lack of maturity and inability to do what is necessary to win this war that I ranted about a couple hundred pages ago.
Again, sorry for any hurt feelings, but this is coming from a veteran of a vilified industry, and, I assure you, what I am saying is not driven by emotion. It is driven ENTIRELY by combat experience and battle scars.
Vote your honest conscious and apologize to no one.
And stockpile.
