Four different studies show that America young people are driving less than previous generations, and many aren’t even bothering to get a driver’s license. Since 1983, the percentage of 19-year-olds with driver’s licenses fell from 87% to 70%. For 17-year-olds, it fell from 69% to just 46%. Insurance companies report a 12% drop in covered teen drivers since 2006. Teen traffic fatalities are also falling.

There are several theories about what’s happening.

1. Teens “hang out” via social media–Facebook, texting, etc. No need to be physically together. International data shows that the higher the internet use in a country, the lower the number of young people with driver’s licenses.

2. Teens can’t afford to drive. Can’t get good enough jobs to pay the car, gas, insurance, and upkeep.

3. Young people are opting for alternative transportation, and choosing life habits which require less time on the road.

4. They haven’t gotten around to it yet. In one survey, 37% of teens said they’re just too busy to get a driver’s license. (Too busy with what?)

It’s been a year since Newtown. Since then, guns have killed another 194 children ages 12 and under. You won’t find a stat like that in other countries. This isn’t, to me, an argument against guns per se. As a people, we’ve chosen to have a nation with lots of guns and easy access to guns. It’s just a trade-off in the name of freedom–more guns inevitably bring more gun deaths, and we’re apparently okay with that because we cherish guns so much. Similarly, there are trade-offs for having other freedoms–of religion, speech, travel, etc. Freedom is not free and painless.

In a recent study of 27 developed nations, the US had by far the highest number of guns per capita–88 guns for every 100 people. Switzerland was next, with just 45 guns per 100 people. We have 10.2 gun deaths for every 100,000 people, the Swiss have 3.8 such deaths (half the number of guns, roughly half the number of gun deaths). The numbers were pretty consistent through the list of countries–the lower the number of guns, the lower the rate of gun deaths. The only anomaly was South Africa, with a gun-death rate almost equal to the US.

A few days ago, I was in a secular small-group setting in which the leader made a gun-rights argument. He mentioned our “unalienable rights,” and kind of combined the Second Amendment and the Declaration of Independence. He said our unalienable rights, including our right to own guns, are “endowed by our Creator.”

I let him go a bit more. I’d heard all of this before. But I eventually felt compelled to speak.

“I understand what you’re saying, but there’s a lot of questionable theology in that,” I said. “In my view, those rights were endowed by political leaders who wrote them into our founding documents, and they became law. I can’t make a theological argument for gun rights coming from God. I won’t even argue that the Bible says God gave us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“But it’s in the Declaration of Independence,” he said.

“Then,” I responded, “it’s a matter of whether or not I agree with Thomas Jefferson’s theological interpretation. He wrote those words, not God. Besides, the Declaration of Independence has no legal standing. Not like the Constitution.”

He responded (and I’m recreating a discussion), “If those rights came from the government, then the government can take them away. But if they came from God, they can’t be taken away.”

That is central to Second Amendment arguments. But it misuses God. Go ahead, build your argument for the Second Amendment. But don’t pull God into it.

The Declaration of Independence and Constitution are incredible documents. But at their most basic, they were written by committees of politicians with an agenda. The Declaration should more accurately have said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the concept of Natural Law with certain unalienable Rights….”

I’ll always be uncomfortable with a committee of politicians making pronouncements about my faith.

I’ve heard people discourage signing up for insurance on the exchange, because you must give personal information to the government. As opposed to giving that same information (and more) to a private company that will sell it to other private companies…and, apparently, give it to the government anyway.

Newsflash: the government already knows all about you.

On the Healthcare.gov website, after providing my Social Security number, I was given four multiple choice questions to confirm my identity. One asked the name of the company through which we refinanced our home mortgage in 2002. The correct answer was one of the four choices.

The next question asked the name of the company through which we took out a car loan in 2012. Again, they had the info.

The correct answer to the other two questions was “None of the Above.”

We took out these loans with private companies, and they passed it along to Uncle Sam. Now this info, going back at least 11 years, is all nicely linked with my SS#.

So go ahead and pretend that you just want to keep your private info out of the government’s hands. The truth is–they’ve already got it.