Some folks are suggesting that we should remember Speaker Sal DiMasi's submarining of the casino bill at the polls in November. I'm not planning to wait that long; I'll remember it on July 4. You know, the time of the year when, more than at any other, we celebrate what a "free country" America is.

For all the sloganeering, there's never been any reluctance by whomever is in control to infringe on somebody else's freedom. Indeed, by deciding the fate of Gov. Patrick's casino proposal on the basis of his own moral view, DiMasi is following a tradition set by the first Pilgrim and Puritan leaders of the state and continued fairly consistently for the last 375 years.

Indeed, there's more freedom today than ever. Remember that until about 40 years ago, it was Massachusetts policy to lock up mentally disabled people for most of their lives. Similar policies were in effect for "dipsomaniacs," the warehousing of whom was the initial purpose of the old Foxboro State Hospital. "Dipsos" today are better known as alcoholics or drinkers. The precedent for these enlightened chapters of state history was set when the Wampanoags and other Native Americans were forced onto de facto reservations in places like Lakeville and Martha's Vineyard.

The urge to incarcerate anyone who marches to a different drummer may have passed, but Bay State busybodyism still prevails. Sort out all the arguments about protecting gamblers and their families from financial ruin and we've got the usual rationale for maintaining an old prohibition - like the one on casino-style gambling - or promoting a new one, e.g., talking on a cell phone while driving: We're free ... to act like responsible citizens. Is that freedom at all, when the decision about what is responsible is made by a body that often wears the Golden Dome of the Statehouse like a glorified dunce cap?

Patrick has picked himself up from the casino defeat - although he'll be dusting himself off for a while yet for the gaffe of putting a higher priority on a personal book deal than on public policy - to propose a major public works program as part of a new economic development initiative. It sounds promising, but I don't expect either that - or the proposed new $1-a-pack bully tax on smokers - to generate revenue fast enough to cover the budget shortfalls expected in the city and towns of Sun Chronicle country. So...

When it takes an extra few minutes to reach a heart attack victim because a neighborhood fire station was shuttered, tell the victim's family it was worth it. Those extra few minutes may be keeping a Massachusetts gambler away from a bankruptcy filing.

When student-to-teacher ratios rise next year, just tell the kids that the loss of individualized attention is worth the price of protecting people from dropping their coins in slot machines and leaving themselves without money to buy their children shoes.

When the public library's hours are cut back to a schedule inconvenient for Aunt Martha to pursue her family genealogy research or check out a how-to book so Uncle George can fix the toilet, just tell Martha that clogged toilet is worth the price of protecting Massachusetts gamblers' families from ruination.

But when the heart attack victim, the crowded students or Aunt Martha asks how the Legislature took the car keys away from all the Massachusetts gamblers to keep them away from Twin River, Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, you won't have an answer.

You might just advise them to ask their Uncle Sal. His e-mail address is Rep.SalvatoreDiMasi@hou.state.ma.us.

MARK FLANAGAN is Opinion Page editor of The Sun Chronicle. He is not a gambler. He can be reached at 1-508-236-0335.