NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Freedom and its limits meet on First Bridge

By David M. Shribman, Globe Staff, 9/11/2001

ORTH CONWAY, N.H. - Hold those introductory lectures being delivered this month at the beginning of college political- science courses. The entire sweep of American political debate is being conducted here at First Bridge.

For years this bridge - an altogether unremarkable two-lane span on River Road a quarter-mile from the center of town - has been a favorite setting for one of the rites of a country childhood. Hundreds of kids have hurled themselves off the bridge into the cool waters of the Saco, finding exhilaration and relief in the gentle current of the river.

Now first principles are at stake at First Bridge.

Here's why: Jumping off the bridge is fun, but it's also dangerous, especially with water levels as low as they are right now. Last month a 50-year-old man injured himself after jumping. That same day, local police handed out one $50 fine for jumping in the river and are threatening more.

We sometimes think the big issues in American life wind up on the Sunday television shows or in the Supreme Court, but none of the principals at First Bridge - not local police officers, not teenagers off on a toot - have been sighted on ''Meet the Press'' or, for that matter, on the high court's docket. But make no mistake. The principles of American life are being tested with the questions raised at First Bridge:

Is it the role of government to assure public safety? What happens when the government's commitment to public safety collides with individuals' rights? Should the government regulate private behavior that poses no threat to others? Should people be responsible for their own decisions, even if they risk life and limb in doing so?

Former US senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose views are seldom sought or cited at First Bridge but who has been watching debates like these for decades, agrees that this is a classic American conundrum.

''Conservatives have been insensitive to the need for regulations, and liberals have been insensitive to their costs,'' says Moynihan. ''There could be a loss of liberty at the bridge. One out of 10,000 of those children will drown, and we won't like that. But if there's a policeman standing there we might ask: What's the point of being a kid? Finding the balance in all of that is the daily task of governance.''

That's true. The principles at stake at First Bridge are the very same ones at stake in the national debate about smoking, in which some wish to restrict cigarettes and others argue that people have the right to smoke even if it is dangerous. The principles at stake on River Road are the very same ones at stake in the national debate over consumer regulation, where some believe the government should assure product safety and others argue that the market should be permitted to work its own logic.

The other day The Conway Daily Sun sought the public's views, opening up its phone lines and then printing the responses of the 28 readers who dialed in. The answers were a portrait of an ancient debate about risk and responsibility, as eloquent as Locke and Hobbes, Roosevelt and Reagan.

Here's one view, from the Conway paper's phone line: People should be allowed to jump off the bridge. If they hurt themselves, it's their business.

Washington corollary: People should be allowed to take drugs. If they hurt themselves, it's their business.

Here's another phone-in view of the bridge contretemps: Put up a high fence, and anybody else that gets caught at any time should be fined at least $5 million.

Washington corollary: Patrol the borders like mad to keep drugs out of the country, and anybody who gets caught using them should be locked up forever.

And a third view from the bridge: I think it would help if The Conway Daily Sun did not show any more pictures of kids jumping from that bridge and therefore glorifying it.

Washington corollary: I think it would help if Hollywood didn't show any more pictures of kids using drugs and therefore glorifying it.

There are no easy answers to any of these questions, which is why they are so persistent, both here in the White Mountains and throughout American life.

''It's against the town ordinance to jump off that bridge, and the reason is that you can get hurt,'' says Bob Porter, who has sat on the Conway Police Commission for 17 years. ''We go through this issue every year. This issue has been around longer than I have, and it will be around when I'm gone.''

So, too, will the debates about personal freedom and government regulation. But Commissioner Porter knows that some relief is on the way for him and his colleagues. The days are getting shorter, the days chillier. In a week or so, nobody is going to want to jump off First Bridge. But the debate will be back next spring - and will be entwined in everything the Congress and court do this year.

This story ran on page A3 of the Boston Globe on 9/11/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.