CENTRAL  SOUTH  DAKOTA  MEDICAL NEWS
THE CLINICAL VIEW
By: Phillip E. Hoffsten, M.D.
2  AUGUST  2001

The Dangers of Freedom

 Last week, my family and I had an opportunity to see the evening lighting presentation at Mount Rushmore. It was a stirring and inspiring presentation with a Boy Scout troop from Omaha raising the flag followed by a Discovery Channel movie describing the four presidents and what they did for our country. This was followed by the Boy Scouts lowering the flag and presenting it to two veterans who then returned it to the park ranger. He gave a brief discussion regarding the monument. The evening presentation with the lighting of the faces is beautiful to see. I recommend it.

The park ranger's discussion centered around the concept of freedom that are our citizens enjoy. He pointed out the many sacrifices that have been made by our citizens over the years to protect our freedoms promised in our constitution. That constitution guarantees freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search or seizure, the right to bear arms, etc., etc.

But in a broader sense, what is freedom? Briefly stated, freedom is the ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, and without interference from other people, laws, or rules. People want to go wherever they want, eat whatever they want, say whatever they want, sleep whenever they want, never hurt, always be healthy, and receive the approval of everyone in sight. Such would be a perfect world. Free to have things our way.

So several hundred years ago, a group of stalwart, very dissatisfied Englishmen decided to leave England and come to America in order to find freedom. In their case, the stated reason was freedom from persecution for their religious beliefs. On arrival in America, they did indeed find freedom from persecution for their beliefs but the laws of nature were even harsher and the penalties for breaking the laws of nature resulted in many deaths and sometimes failure of a colonizing effort. As time passed, the new colonies fought for independence and freedom from the tyranny of England. People migrated west looking for freedom.

On the prairies of the midwest, the price of freedom became vividly displayed. People were free to eat what they wanted if they could find it, to park their wagon almost anyplace they wanted provided that they could get it out of the mud, to go and do when and what they wanted. With this wonderful freedom, some of those who acted in a responsible manner survived but there were many casualties among those who abused their freedom by irresponsible actions. If a house was not built and cared for, if the crops were not planted and harvested appropriately, preparation for winter was not carefully done, nature extracted a horrible price and those wonderful freedoms that our pioneers sought resulted in major suffering and many deaths.

What does this all have to do with medical considerations? In this column, I wish to point out that while manmade laws regarding freedom of speech, religion, etc., can be modified from one country to another, the laws of nature are immutable. They cannot be defied and the price nature extracts for breaking her laws can be awesome.

As an example, our citizens have the right to eat what they want, as much as they want and as often as they want. Because of irresponsible behavior, more than one-third of our population now carries a weight problem associated with major disease considerations including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and strokes. Mother Nature does not give us the freedom to eat as we are doing without extracting a substantial penalty.

In the United State of America, we have the right to drink alcoholic beverages, as much as we want and as often as we want and for as long as we want. This is a freedom that we have, and yet Mother Nature does not give us freedom to avoid the disastrous effects of alcoholism.  In our country, we have the right to smoke cigarettes with as many as we want, as often as we want and whatever brand we want. Yet, one of six deaths in our country, 350,00 deaths per year, are related to cigarette smoking. If a person smokes cigarettes, there is a 50 - 50 chance that is what will kill that person.

By our constitution, we have the right to bear arms. Our citizens have more firearms per capita than any country in the world. With that freedom comes 15,000 deaths per year due to firearms alone. Gunshot wounds are the second leading cause of death among our population ages 15 to 24.

Automobiles and our road system give us the freedom to move unprecedented in the history of the world and yet 50,000 people a year in the United States die from automobile accidents. Many of these deaths are related to irresponsible driving at excessive speeds or under the influence of alcohol. While our Highway Patrol may apprehend a miniscule number of speeders who pay a modest monetary fine, Mother Nature extracts a horrible price for our automobile accidents.

For reasons not exactly clear, our country has chosen to outlaw the random recreational use of narcotics and various other drugs. While the intent of these laws is noble, the effect has been disastrous. While our manmade laws apprehend a few drug dealers and a few drug users, Mother Nature extracts a horrible price from the narcotic addict using street drugs.

Our society has relatively few laws governing sexual behavior. In today's world with the AIDS epidemic, Mother Nature extracts grotesque consequences for those who exercise their freedom of sexual behavior.

In summary, it seems that our brains were hardwired a long time ago with an intrinsic need to have freedoms. While man can move from one society to another seeking different types of "freedom", there is no society that is free from the laws of nature. Somehow, we must temper our freedoms with responsible behavior or the health consequences become disastrous. While we all need freedom and we all want freedom, freedom can be very, very dangerous.