From free citizens to complying subjects

In recent decades, the G20, together with the OECD, has sought to establish global regulatory frameworks aimed at managing the economy, expanding reporting and surveillance obligations, and tightening control over the population. Much of this effort has focused on extracting as much tax revenue as possible from businesses and individuals, while weaving a tight web of citizen surveillance. Democracies and autocracies alike seized this opportunity to expand state control.

With today’s geopolitical shifts, the G20 has become dysfunctional, which is certainly no loss. Many countries never introduced these regulations, or only enforced them selectively. Yet one region remains blind to their harmful effects: Europe. The continent still sees itself as a “regulatory superpower,” clinging to this role even as it weakens its own competitiveness.

A prevailing illusion is that Europe’s market is so important that all others must comply with its standards to gain access. This is simply not true. Still, a kind of arrogant blindness dominates many European capitals and Brussels. Europe’s complex regulatory regimes are expensive, and they erode productivity and the continent’s ability to compete globally.

The regulatory road to servitude

This wave of overregulation and surveillance must be examined from several angles: the loss of productivity and competitiveness; the infringement of personal freedom, self-determination and property rights; and, finally, the erosion of citizens’ duty to hold the state accountable. The issue is not only economic but also deeply ethical.

Freedom is never guaranteed; it must be defended by citizens to avoid becoming submissive servants.

 

Because of excessive regulation and control, Europe now has the world’s largest share of government involvement in the economy. This overhead is no longer sustainable. Countless regulations consume time and resources, requiring ever-larger bureaucracies to draft and enforce them. The public sector in Europe already accounts for roughly 50 percent of the economy, compared to around 30 percent in the United States. These rules not only expand bureaucracy but also create meaningless administrative work in both government and business, frustrating civil servants and entrepreneurs alike.

What can be done? The lobby of those who profit from this system is powerful in political circles and in the media. What should civil servants, entrepreneurs or ordinary citizens do when forced to comply with rules that defy common sense or serve no purpose? Those carrying them out must recognize the harm they cause, even when bound by grotesque regulations. If we truly believe in a free society, we must speak up. The moment may come when civil disobedience becomes necessary.

Unfortunately, the political elite and parliamentarians have become so entrenched in the present power structures that elections no longer bring real change. A clear example of this was Germany’s last federal election.

It is deeply immoral to impose excessive taxes when the state then wastes this revenue, depriving citizens and businesses of the means to spend, save and invest. Exaggerated taxation, byzantine tax systems and arbitrary inspections are becoming the norm across Europe, violating basic property rights. Several European audit courts have already confirmed widespread waste, high administrative costs and poor accountability.

Citizens, businesses and especially business advisors, including the Big Four consulting firms, must act and speak out to restore common sense and economic reason. Otherwise, we betray the very foundations of democracy and freedom and resign ourselves to being compliant subjects. It is the people’s enduring duty to ensure that the state never grows too powerful.

History teaches us that the state, if allowed to expand unchecked, inevitably abuses its power. Bureaucracy becomes a self-serving, wasteful machine that exploits the population. Freedom is never guaranteed; it must be defended by citizens to avoid becoming submissive servants. Obeying rules that are unnecessary, harmful or immoral is a betrayal of civic responsibility. The path from citizen to subject is, as Friedrich Hayek warned in “The Road to Serfdom,” the gradual surrender of personal agency to an overreaching state. And Europe, sadly, has already gone far down that road.

This comment was originally published here: https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/citizens-compliance/