Ever since I was a child, I've had a hard time when thinking about politics and the labels they carry. In the society I've grown up in, people are so quick to place a label on their political standings and put themselves in a box. Even more so, however, people are quick to assume that when the label is stated, the person with the label agrees and vouches from everything that party/label stands for. I believe that every individual should actually be labeled as independent if you got down to it. The more conversations I've had with people, the more I am beginning to see that the majority of humans have similar foundational goals, but how to enact these goals is where things get interesting.
I say all of this to lead into my point that this topic runs parallel to that one. I have always been one to preach about gray area. I love rules and order, but I believe very few things, especially in politics, are black and white like we tend to act like they are. When looking at Democrats and Republicans alongside Coercion and Cooperation, you will find one obvious thing in common. Because the two are grossly opposing most of the time and generally have a hard time working hand in hand, you have to find middle ground or gray area in order to make something work.
Traffic laws are the perfect example of this. As civilians, we have the right to purchase and use a motorized vehicle if we choose to do so. However, with that vehicle comes rules and regulations to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of the rest of the population is not at risk. The rules and regulations work cooperatively with the police to establish authority as well as trust with civilians. Civilians trust that they are going to be protected as much as possible by the police enforcing the laws and they also are therefore encouraged to follow the laws because of the risk of punishment. The bottom line of this agreement is that the civilian has the right to use the vehicle however they please, but the police also have the right to punish said civilian if they choose not to follow the laws.
This line that is drawn in the middle of these two things is what we are continuously trying to search for. How far is too far when it comes to regulations? How much should be left up to the natural flows of society?