Quit Treading on Us, Says French Magazine to Government and Its Regulators

Le Dossier de Valeurs Actuelles : “Arrêtez d’emmerder les Français !”

"Don't tread on us" is the message of a French weekly to the government—albeit in slightly more colorful language ("Quit pissing off the French!" is a more accurate translation, yet even that does not do justice to the original). Exasperated with an ever increasing number of rules and regulations, and featuring a cover with one of the ubiquitous road radars that send hundreds of thousands of fines to people each year, Valeurs Actuelles tells the government to cease and desist:

Speed limits, smoking bans in public places, cigarette package "neutralization", alcohol bottle standardization, speakerphone prohibition while driving, eating injunctions ("less fat, less sugar, less salt") ... No doubt these measures (the list is far from exhaustive) have been taken each time for perfectly good reasons, whether to save lives — the public health argument — or even "the planet" — to meet environmental concerns.

Frenchmen know the intentions are exemplary and yet… they can't take it anymore: too much advice, constantly rehashed, too many regulations, too many laws!

From the original editorial:

Limitations de vitesse, interdiction de fumer dans les lieux publics, “neutralisation” des paquets de cigarettes, standardisation des bouteilles d’alcool, interdiction du kit mains-libres au volant, injonctions alimentaires : “moins gras, moins sucré, moins salé”… Sans doute ces mesures, dont la liste n’est pas exhaustive, ont-elles été prises à chaque fois pour de bonnes raisons, qu’il s’agisse de sauver des vies — argument de santé publique — ou même “la planète” — le souci est alors écologique.

Les Français le concèdent volontiers et pourtant… ils n’en peuvent plus : trop de conseils, sans cesse rabâchés, trop de normes, trop de lois !

Valeurs Actuelles special “Stop pissing off the French!” issue

• Editorial
• Nothing symbolizes the Big Brother state better than the traffic radar
• The state's prescriptive hysteria is almost always based on poorly understood scientific studies (when they haven't been tampered with)
• "Farmers are poisoned by the state's myriad regulations; they are now living in constant stress"
• EU Regulations: Will We Soon Have to Affix a Warning Sticker on Coffee Packages to Warn Against the Danger of the Beverage?