Newmark's Door

Ben Stein asks a question:

So, here is what I wonder: Why fight a product that is demonstrably incomparably less harmful than smoking cigarettes — and is being substituted for cigarettes by at least some smokers?

Maybe I am missing something, but e-cigs seem to me an almost heaven-sent gift to public health: a simulacrum of smoking, the pleasure of nicotine — and, or almost no, tar. Why are we not happy about this? Why are city governments fighting these? What am I missing? A gigantic public health benefit is coming our way. Why are we shouting, “Stop!”?

As a public service, I'll help Mr. Stein out. We are now at a point in American history in which no social problem can ever be solved or even seriiously mitigated without putting a lot of lobbyists, PR flacks, and squads of social do-gooders out of work.