I'll take the locusts, please...

We bought our home 25 years ago next month. We've been pretty lucky that nothing too terrible has happened to it in that amount of time. We did get invaded by moles that time, and one time Some guy ran over our flagpole. We also got hit by lightning once, and we had to buy a new telephone and electric blanket. But that's about it. Except for the time somebody stole the wheels off of my truck.

But we bought some insurance when we bought our house, so outside of the mole incident, and minus our deductible, our losses were mostly covered. And if our house burns down in a fire, or gets blown away by a tornado, or even gets eaten by locusts, our insurance company has agreed that they will pay what it costs to replace it. I'm not expecting any of catastrophes, but it's comforting to know we're mostly covered, just in case.

I recently met some people who own a home that is in the way of some road work the government wants to do. For the most part, if some one's home is in the way of something the government wants to do, it will find a way to take it. It's called imminent domain, I think. And in a lot of cases, what the government is willing to pay isn't nearly enough to replace what they are taking.

All of which got me to thinking. Would I rather deal with the government, or a fire, or a tornado, or a swarm of locusts.

It didn't take long to decide. You can't buy insurance to protect yourself from the government.