In Western democracies, it is believed that a civilised society must constantly progress through rules for collective living. The concern to do the right thing means a proliferation of rules which in turn are becoming increasingly complex.
And people often find them difficult to understand. There are plenty of examples of how these rules complicate their daily lives for seemingly obscure reasons. And citizens understand and approve of them less and less.
Digitisation should be simplifying things, but its implementation is complicating matters, if not slowing them down! The resulting productivity gains that are expected often prove to be nothing more than opaque procedures, obstacle courses even.
In modern democracies, the proliferation of complex rules is one of the sources of discontent among citizens.
The legalistic interpretations of our grand principles are leading to a loss of legitimacy; the technical nature of laws is a mistake and encourages people to circumvent them; collective sentiment is weakened by incomprehension; and intrusive rules often lend themselves to ridicule.
It can be argued that a highly regulated society represents a step forward for civilisation and progress. But when common rules seek to control every detail of life to the point of complexity, they often border on the absurd. It is therefore not surprising that there are simplistic responses to challenge these rules. This provides fertile ground for populism, which exploits the feeling of immense dissatisfaction.
Democracies should not be governed by administrators whose talent shines through in the drafting of rules with laudable aims, but whose expression is marred by an appetite for regulations that fail to be simple and clear. ‘Why make things simple when you can make them complicated?’
Yet democracy requires simplicity, which is a guarantee of transparency and acceptance. Laws, political language and the rules of living together must be understood by all.
The current American president has understood this and is playing on this response, the demand for simplicity, as he resorts to effective simplism and disruptive statements that are music to the ears of the conspiracy theorists. He is obviously not a role model, but rather a warning sign for regimes that continue to fill their official newspapers with obscure texts.
If Europe wants to avoid a huge political backlash and rule by demagogues who will stop at nothing, from nationalism to populist sophistry, national governments and European institutions should declare a “regulatory moratorium” to examine the merits, wording and scope of the rules they adopt.
Keeping things simple certainly requires more work, but first and foremost it requires common sense and, out of respect for citizens, the desire to be understood by all.
‘Keep it simple’ would certainly be a good slogan!
