We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day

There you have left-wing hypocrisy in a nutshell. When a government official like New York mayor Michael Bloomberg tries to reduce the public consumption of sugary beverages with a tax that makes the drinks more expensive, he’s a public health hero. But when it’s a profit-generating company that stands accused of increasing beverage costs, it’s a greedy manipulative Wall Street blood-sucker.

Ira Stoll

5 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • Nick (nice-guy) Gray

    All people, everywhere, seem to be looking for the exceptional CAUSE- the excuse to not abide by any rules, because the higher rule of supporting the Cause takes precedence. Leftists are here practicing the higher hypocricy, in support of their cause of more government (but only if they are in the government). The only antidote is to embrace the CAUSE of the Rule Of Law, always, and then you’ll never break the law for your Cause.

  • Paul Marks

    Good post.

    Higher prices by FORCE (government edicts and taxes) are considered good, higher prices by the free choice of PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS are considered bad.

    Force is good – civil society (private property and voluntary choice) is bad.

    This civilisation is doomed.

  • JohnB

    Green energy walks a similar road.
    The best money would seem to be accessible through hypocritical, but sufficiently convincing, concern for the well being of others.

  • Tedd

    They’re just panicking that the cost of tinfoil hats will skyrocket.

  • veryretired

    We are in the final phases of the long descent into lunacy that the progressive moral inversion inevitably brings about.

    For a century and more, we have been told that the private individual or business, operating for their own success and growth, are dangerous and predatory, and must be stringently inspected and controlled, lest they become tyrannical masters over every aspect of our lives.

    Conversely, the collectivist sings the praises of the centralized state, and desires to surrender to that state all the powers and moral authority of the individual, and of private, civil society, whether religious or secular, so that the state might protect and provide for the citizen in all respects, from the cradle to the grave.

    Thus do we now see a world in which the ravenous wolves which circle the herd of common citizens are lauded as our saviors, while the enterprises which deliver food to our tables, energy to our homes and vehicles, and medicines to our sick children, are scorned as lepers, and forced to abide by as many crippling rules and regulations as the cadres of the state can devise.

    Such is the folly of the post-modern, post-industrial, and thoroughly post-rational world in which we exist, all the while trying to find a way to live as independent, productive beings.

    It may soon be time to tell the man to shrug.