Originally Posted by
Mostly Harmless
. No one likes to pay for defense... it's exactly like paying for car insurance. You fork over money in the hopes you will never have to use it but you are always happy that it is there the day you need it.
Totally agree with the gist of your post. But on this point, I would say more like home insurance. The purpose of auto insurance is to sustain an inherently dangerous transport system for economic purposes by socializing the cost of injury and material damage. That's why motoring interest groups lobbied for mandatory insurance way back when. It prevents drivers from having to face the true consequences of their actions. Ironically, we have been conditioned to believe that having insurance is a sign of responsibility. And so blatant is the socialization-of-cost purpose that, at least here in the People's Republic of BC, it's run exclusively by the government.