On some level, all our services, all the resources and functions of our society, are optional. Many we've had for so long we simply accept them, others are contentious points of debate, others are pie in the sky dreams for some, and dread nightmare for others.
None the less, everything is to some degree, a choice. A police force is not mandatory, nor is the fire department, nor the armed forces... each of these at one point or another, was created to solve a problem.
People often differed on what problem they were solving, but they agreed on the solve. For example, does the law exist to safeguard liberties, or mandate compliance with accepted norms? Do we build prisons to punish or to reform, or just to separate the dangerous people from the regular folk, or maybe some combination of the three?
Even after a solve is chosen, it's scope can change - should the police protect everyone, or just taxpayers? Should illegal immigrants be protected by the laws of the land, or is their presence here a more terrible crime than whatever was done to them? If you can't pay the fees for the fire department, should they save your house anyway?
Then there's healthcare.
