People sometimes wonder why I obsess on the tendency of centralized government to get too big, too powerful, and too intrusive. These people, who as American citizens have grown up under a system that taxes them more than medieval lords taxed their serfs, are often frankly puzzled.

The example I often use for Too Much Government is the regulation describing, among other things, the legal size for the holes in Swiss Cheese.* This kind of micromanaging multiplied by hundreds of thousands explains where a lot of our money, not to mention productivity, goes every year.

Well, Europeans (who probably also regulate their cheese holes) have their very own example of Regulatory Psycho Hose Beasts: The EU Pig Toy Regulation.

A socialist believes that every aspect of human existence should be controlled--using force--by those who are better and wiser than mere citizens, a position for which, not surprisingly, most socialists believe themselves to be uniquely qualified. Those who rise to the top in Europe tend to carry a lot of socialist baggage, far more than even American Democrats. Needless to say, the central organizations of the European Union are attracting such socialists like an incontinent elephant attracts bluebottle flies. It's going to get a lot worse.

The pig bit is funny. The other stuff won't be.

* A search of the USDA site for "Swiss Cheese" gives 241 results.