Soapbox alert! (Don't say I didn't warn you)

Okay, I can't resist putting in my two cents.

You know how people say that motorcycle riding is a matter of how much risk people are willing to take (I've seen many say it on here)? Well, if that's true for individuals, it is also true for governments (not just with motorcycle riding, but with many things - seat belts, gun ownership, having insurance, etc., etc.).

The government (local, state, and federal) has to calculate the cost of "risk" to the society. No one would argue that the government has a right to tell you what style pants to wear (no risk to society), but how about wearing seat belts? Unquestionably, the laws mandating seat belt use have saved tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of lives. However you feel about your individual choice whether or not to wear a seat belt, it must be weighed against the larger interests of society. And this example does not even factor in the cost of hospitalization, etc. involved in injuries/deaths to those in traffic accidents who may have gone uninjured/less injured if they had been wearing seat belts.

I know it's a cliche, but the government is us, or those who we give up our sovereignty to in order to represent us. I know that's difficult to see sometimes, but if we don't like "the government", we get regular chances to vote them out (admittedly, bureaucracies are a different matter). And if we get really pissed about our government, we can have a revolution, which we have done before. My point is, "the government" makes laws like mandatory seat belt use because it has a responsibility to weigh risk for the larger society. Just like many of you wear more gear than you used to, for example, our government also views this risk differently at different times.

Last, should it be an individual choice as to whether or not you have auto insurance, for example? I'm glad the government mandates that, because I just know the asshole who runs a red light and slams into my car won't "choose" to have it, and that will impact my ability to recover from the injuries, get physical therapy, etc. We are going to argue about what the government has a "right" to mandate, and we always will (which is fine, that's part of the process). Hell, I can't get four members of my family to agree on where to go for dinner.

Thanks for your patience if you got this far,

Keith