The Only Rule that's Needed

On New Year’s day in Bucharest, Romania, the European Union flag was raised over official buildings in what President Traian Basescu described as a moment of a great freedom. In Bulgaria, too, the EU flag went up and there were lavish parties to celebrate the occasion, with the EU anthem “Ode to Joy” filling Sofia night skies.

A moment of “great freedom”?

It is far from that. The Romanians and also the Bulgarians, the newest members of the EU, are now subject to a mind-numbing 80,000 pages of EU regulations. Considering that the European Union was built on the idea of removing barriers to commerce that made travel and trade between the countries of Europe onerous and costly, it would appear that it’s “out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Not even the bureaucrats running the EU can possibly know or understand the ultimate ramifications of this vast ocean of laws that entangle the citizens of the member countries.

As is usually the case when laws are passed, the citizens of both countries are unsure of what their new status will mean. Some farmers think they won’t be able to sell their produce anymore as they can’t meet the conditions required by EU rules, and others figure they’ll get new subsidies, but will need to have connections in government, which will now be hundreds of miles away and conducted in another language. In Bucharest, Paul Neagu, 65, a tractor driver, was most concerned that he would not be able to slaughter his pigs in the "traditional Romanian way."

Freedom indeed!

By definition, regulations take away freedoms. Those of us who adhere to the principle that individuals should be sovereign over their own lives and property argue that the larger the number of rules and regulations imposed by force, the greater the level of conflict. Sovereign individuals consider that the only practical and just way to achieve a peaceful and prosperous world is through a system of voluntary exchange. In the long run, given the nature of man, peace, harmony, and prosperity can be achieved with only two rules:

Rule number one. Never aggress against the property of another.

Rule number two. Keep your agreements.

And since breaking an agreement is just a form of aggression against the property of another, rule number one is all that would be needed. Isn’t this strange, since almost every regulation imposed by governments aggresses against someone’s property, and thereby violates the one rule needed for a peaceful, prosperous world.