Good morning.

I'm about to head down the street to Tom Lyons tire with my ride for our annual shakedown from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Yep...time for my vehicle inspection.

Funny thing, that. You and I pay a mountain of fees just to drive a car. I've got License, Registration, Inspections...and of course I paid a sales tax when I bought it, and often drive on a toll road to get to work.

I haven't heard the teabaggers whining about that level of government intrusion on our god-given right to take to the open road!

But what happens when there isn't any automotive regulation?



The Ford Pinto.





The Chevy Corvair.

Libertarians would argue that regulation isn't needed; the market would 'self-adjust' and put the companies making unsafe products out of business.

It's true that the Pinto and the Corvair are no longer manufactured, but I just looked out my front window and counted 3 Fords and a Chevy within eyeshot, so that didn't work. Never mind the cost in lives for the manufacturers to actually stop making the cars.

Of course, it's not just the automotive industry. Has everyone read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle"? Trust me, you will never look at processed meats the same way again. It should come as no surprise to anyone that those lessons weren't learned either.

I've read and heard more than once that a definition of insanity is the endless repeating of certain actions, hoping for a different outcome for once.

I guess that's the only explanation for this: