Maybe at one time this wouldn't have been true. But we now live in a social and political environment where the response to almost any problem in any field is, "Maybe the government needs to take a hand in this issue."

Automobile design, the weather, the foods we eat, the price of pretty much anything we buy, our wages and work, the houses we live in, the schools we go to, humans in space, our investments, scientific research, the light bulbs in our lamps, health care, or how much water my gorram toilet uses when I flush a dump.

Every one of these areas of discussion has not just the finger, but both hands and at least one foot of the State firmly in it. Go ahead. Try to think of ANY serious topic in the modern world where "someone should pass a law" does not hit the table early in the game. I have a pretty good idea of the geneology of this kind of thinking, but we'll leave that aside for now.

You wonder why politics creeps into the discussions? Unless we're talking about some far-out math concept, some guy getting eaten by a bear, or some other off-the-wall topic, politics is going to come waltzing in like...well...a bear at the picnic.