Musings

Friday, August 28, 2009

Freedom

As Americans, we pride ourselves on our freedom and do not give much thought about it from day to day. In what do we really want to be free? Is it enough to say I can vote for whomever I want, buy the car I want, live where I want, marry who I want, associate with whomever I want, read what I want or attend the church I want? Is there more? For a while now our freedom has been under attack. The first instance I can think of right now is the freedom to smoke. That freedom has pretty much been obliterated. Should a free person be allowed to smoke? Not when it affects others, we say. Long ago a gentleman would ask a lady if she would give him permission to smoke. No permission, no smoking. From there, we slowly progressed to the constraints we now have. Smoke free offices, factories, elevators, restaurants, bars, public gatherings, parks, beaches and even in the home when children are present. Should we be proud that we have denied some of our citizens a freedom? You say, their health will be better? Is a person free to do as he will with his life? If a person decides to eat french-fries every main meal (as I once did) and clog their arteries, is he not free to do so? If a person over eats at every meal they are free to do it. If they drink cokes at every meal and affect their endocrine system they are free to do it. Some are in favor of the freedom to have an abortion and others would deny it. Still others say: "Not with my money." How about the freedom to attend school? Drop out of school at a certain age and you find no freedom to do it. We have freedom of speech and yet it is severely curtailed in many universities. The freedom to take a drink is relished by those who imbibe, yet we had an amendment to the Constitution that prohibited just that. Should we have the freedom to use recreational drugs, even to point of dying from it's use? The "nanny state" is upon us and is restricting our freedoms. Do you feel the hand of government coming to take more of our freedoms away? Some examples: control the kind of fat used in cooking, taking the right of child discipline from the parents, buy only small, energy efficient cars, require a passport to travel outside the Country, buy gasoline that has ethanol in it, submit to extensive searches to get onto an airplane, mandatory flu shots, environmental studies required to use your own land, etc. At what point do we lose the distinction, or the boast, that we are free?

posted by Marcel at 3:28 PM

13 Comments:

  • I believe personal freedom should ONLY be limited by the risk of damage to others (like crying FIRE in a crowded theater). All other limitations, including restricting damage to self, should be rejected. Sometimes damage to others is hard to prove or is subjective (Is abortion damaging a person? I think it is but our Supreme Court disagrees.)

    By Blogger John Beauregard, at 9:21 AM  

  • Is smoking really a right? While I totally agree that the Gov. has run rampant with restrictions to personal freedoms, and we would all be better off if allowed to succeed or fail on our own based on our own merits, I hardly think smoking is a right any more than health care is a right, housing is a right, a job is a right, etc..

    By Blogger David, at 3:09 PM  

  • Smoking certainly falls under the "damage to others" clause and hence the freedom need to be curtailed.

    I question one of the freedoms you listed at the top as givens. I certainly do not have the freedom to marry who I want. At least not in my state under our current archaic laws.

    As to David's comment, I would contend that health care should be a right. Similar to education we need to stand up and say "this is important" and make it available to every citizen.

    By Blogger EZ Travel, at 10:29 AM  

  • Erika,
    I would agree with you on curtailing smoking because of "damage to others" if there was ever proof that it does indeed happen. So far proof has merely been anectotal.

    As to marrying who you want, I assume you were refering to the gay issue. I was refering to picking of a spouse by the parents, mostly done in other cultures. (However, muslims groups are becoming bolder and that practice of parents right to pick a mate may be coming to the forefront soon.)

    Health care is already provided to every citizen, your gripe is about how it is delivered. Right now it is delivered to whoever can pay. Some people acquire insurance to insure they can pay when it is needed. Some people self-insure knowing they will come up with the money if needed. Some people, without insurance, do not have the money to pay for a medical bill. They see others that have insurance and want the same thing, failing to understand that the other person paid for their insurance. (They assume that because an employer provides this benifit it came at no cost to the employee, hence, it should be no cost to them.) The medical system we have in this country is the best in the world and it successfully treats some rare diseases that were out of reach only a few years ago. This medical system was built on capitalism, not socialism. I have given this arguement to a few of my students and after hearing what I had to say, still said: "Yes, but I still wish everyone had insurance."

    By Blogger Marcel, at 12:46 PM  

  • They are not fully ingesting what you are saying. Just like when they hear the news, they do not know what is being said. It's called closed minded.

    By Blogger patb, at 3:27 PM  

  • I don't believe that any of the above comments are closed-minded, and I certainly don't believe that the government is encroaching on my everyday personal freedoms. (Yes, my eyes and ears are opened.) That is my opinion; you can take it or leave it, one of our MANY and GREAT freedoms in the US of A. And conversely, I can take or leave your opinions ("your" meaning any of the above posters). Isn't it great to be opinionated?

    By Blogger Sean M., at 10:37 PM  

  • Anyone who is planning to become a doctor, nurse or other medical professional needs to pay close attention to what Erika wrote. A great deal of people in this country feel the same way she does. They feel that others are entitled to your service, your time and your expertise. If you aren't willing to give those services away at no charge to those who can't afford them the government will step in. The government will take money from me, Uncle John and all other tax payers; they will take options, freedoms, and pay away from medical professionals all in order to provide the poor with what they're entitled to. This creates a system where some pay and some don't but, all get same care eventually and substantially lowering the quality of services available to anyone. The product of great healthcare that many enjoy and some have envied and wanted will completely disappear.
    -Tracy

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:58 AM  

  • Your post was about freedoms so I won't continue the health care debate here. I did another comment over on Kat's post https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7681681&postID=3539477959978770659&page=1

    Like Sean, I certainly don't think that anyone that doesn't agree with me is closed-minded. They are misguided. All lot of life is a crap-shoot and you put your money behind your best hope. I sincerely believe in the changes that Obama is making. I believe they are what is best for the country. Will the changes be easy? No. Will they all work? I don't know. But I think we have the best shot at being a great country under his leadership.

    By Blogger EZ Travel, at 1:35 PM  

  • "Freedon's just another word for nothing left to loose"


    za

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:54 PM  

  • WOW. This blog has obviously struck a nerve with your readers. I just want to point out that some of your commenters confuse health care with health insurance. In the US no one can be denied health care by law not even illegal aliens. Ergo, health care IS a "right" in the US. Health insurance, on the other hand, is purchased by individuals who do not want to be a burden on society. Health insurance IS NOT a right nor should it be any more than car insurance, home insurance or trip insurance.

    By Blogger John Beauregard, at 5:38 PM  

  • DVance - If you think other's are misguided then you are saying they don't think like you. I think that's closed-minded!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:06 PM  

  • Uncle John, what a great comment. Thank you. It turned on a light bulb for me!
    Tracy

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:06 AM  

  • Marty, our freedom is what discriminates the US from almost every other country and made it the greatest country on earth. The opposite of freedom is slavery. If "freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose" then what does that make slavery, nothing left to gain? I don't think so. No thanks, I'll keep my freedom as long as I can.

    By Blogger John Beauregard, at 12:40 PM  

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