During a debate show in the 1990s devoted to combatting tunneling, banker Jiří Kunert stated matter-of-factly that laws against stealing already exist. Vice Chair Alexandra Udženija of ODS had much the same thing to say yesterday about the EET online sales-reporting system. Laws against not declaring income and otherwise cheating on taxes already exist. Instead of improving the enforcement and encouraging a feeling among Czechs of being morally required to act as a responsible citizen, the Czech state is jumping directly to universal repression. Every business operator is now considered a potential criminal, just as the Patriot Act in the U.S. turned seven-year-children and 90-year-old grandmothers into potential terrorists. It's no coincidence that this universal repression is coming just as the people are realizing that the value system of the elite is often seriously flawed. Instead of commanding respect, the elite will now pass laws to mandate it.