The Jackson County Planning Board would like to require all driveways to be fire-truck-accessible. Some driveways are too narrow, some are too steep, and some would buckle under the weight. Some people would rather enjoy the pretty cherry tree with its glorious springtime blooms and scrumptious summertime fruit, or the privacy of a long and winding road that leads to their door. Planners argue some civilians are too dumb to engineer a driveway, and the rugged individualists are likely to change their minds in the event of a fire.
It boils down to the age-old question of at what point it becomes more humane to contribute to a pool of resources to cover random, expensive disaster strikes, than to let everybody take their own risks and pay for the consequences. Now that we’re a pluralistic, multicultural society with communists living next to libertarians and so forth, it is safe to say there will always be a neighbor to challenge your personal preferences.
