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Yeah, that is a good reason to get rid of people's liberties; saving money. I'm sorry that you think so little of giving people the right to live their lives the way they like and have the government tell them how to live it instead because it is fiscally convenient.

Money we are talking about is not infinite and is 'contributed' by taxpayers. A guy who 'chooses' to have a load of money spent of him because he did not wear the seatbelt chooses to spend my money, which I would prefer, say, to save for the day I get heart attack. This is not simple: virtually every liberty excercised affects to some degree some other liberty. We have to compromise (optimise, if you will), and I deem some liberties and rights (like free speech) much more important than others (like not wearing a seatbelt). Moreover, I think that some rights some people would not even recognise as such (like basic health care, education and subsistence and reasonable level of safety) more important than not wearing seatbelts. Where should the line be drawn (harmfull food, tobacco, drugs)? Frankly, I don't know.

Tradeoffs are not easy and government will often use protection of some of those rights (like security) as mere excuse to trample on some fundamental liberty (like privacy)....