January 2005

Commentary

Abe Lincoln and the future of health care

by Dr. Frank Bowling

For several years, I've been a student of Abe Lincoln. I've read several biographies about him, and am working my way through a 10‑volume set containing every word he is ever known to have written or delivered in a speech, beginning as a teenager and continuing to the day he died.

Perhaps the thing that motivated Lincoln the most during the dark, sad days of the Civil War was his belief that the United States of America stood as a shining example for the rest of the world, and that its experiment in freedom and democracy, just 80‑some years old at that point, must not be allowed to break apart.

Here are some quotes from Lincoln's 1862 address to Congress:

“No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”

“We ‑‑ even we here ‑‑ hold the power, and bear the responsibility.”

“We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”

“The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just ‑‑ a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.”

What happened to me?

As an idealistic young chiropractic student in 1974, I was exposed to a philosophy of natural health ‑‑ directed from within by each person's own innate intelligence ‑‑ that absolutely thrilled me to the core. I thought it was so beautiful, so logical, and so obviously true that the entire world would soon understand and accept it. I was prepared to lead a revolution in the way we look at health and healing.

Time and success have changed me. I'm afraid to speak out about the flaws in our health care system, afraid of stepping on toes, of upsetting some of my friends in the medical system who, though intelligent, well‑trained and well‑meaning, have bought into a failed system that is based on an incorrect paradigm, costs too much, and in too many cases does more harm than good.

Don't get me wrong, we have the best crisis care system in the world, and it saves lives every day. It just has nothing to do with health. Health comes from eating right, exercising, avoiding bad habits, managing stress, getting enough rest, and keeping the nervous system free of interference.

I sit in front of my TV set at night, watching ads for prescription drugs, one after another, that urge people to “ask your doctor” for this or that pill. And studies have shown that this shameful strategy works like a charm. Doctors are 17 times more likely to prescribe a requested drug.

Antibiotics are grossly over prescribed, often for conditions they won't even help, with serious side effects that most people don't know anything about. Vaccinations are causing such damage that their manufacturers don't even want to make them anymore unless we pass laws protecting them from lawsuits. (Did you know that a person who gets five consecutive flu shots is 10 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease? Yet we stand in line to get them.) Yesterday's “miracle drug” for arthritis will be taken off the market tomorrow, when we find out how many people it's killing.

I've told myself a million times I should speak up more, say what I really think. Then a little voice inside my head says, “No. Don't rock the boat. People won't be able to hear the positive things you have to say if you come across as some kind of nut who's just 'against' everything, particularly if they're things that almost everyone else accepts. Be quiet. Be good.”

And so, I do (be quiet). And I am (good). But not today. Today I'm hearing the voice of old Honest Abe, and I'm thinking that, in the field of health and wellness, maybe we radicals really are the last best hope of earth.

Wishing you health, happiness and peace.