Would've missed that edit. This should be quick, and then seriously, bed.

[quote] I guess what I'm saying is, if it only affects you (ie: tripping on your laces), then the government shouldn't interfere. Falling because your laces were untied isn't going to put whoever you fall on in a coma. But if it's something where your life, as well as others', are in danger, then the government should be allowed to step in.[/quote]

To me the government should never 'be allowed to' interfere, per se, but really that's just a wordgame -- the punchline to which is, 'The government should be [i]compelled[/i] to interfere,' meaning, if they're going to take any sort of action over pretty much anything, it should be to the sound of threats of voting them out if they fail. In other words if the issue isn't causing a public outcry **demanding** legislation, then it doesn't need to be legislated.

Which is derived from how I see our government -- not a panel of experts or a safety squad, just representatives of who we are and what we want, able to have the conversation and spell all the words right when they craft a bill. I don't want the feds out there hawking for a chance to make my life safer or healthier or whatever -- I want them to do nothing, until I require them to do something specific, and then they can go back to doing nothing. 

....I'm taking us in a whooooole nother direction, huh. I'm shutting up now. Please return to your regularly scheduled thread.