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

The hardest part about ‘libertarian’ is learning how to roll your eyes

Ze Frank

5 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • max

    zefrank, he’s da man. Brilliant show.

  • Bruce Hoult

    I watch his vlog daily — just apply the suitable amount of compensation for his “anything a conservative ever does is wrong” bias and he’s funny as hell.

  • Kim du Toit

    I have the same reaction.

    Unfortunately, it’s usually AT the libertarian, especially when I’m confronted with someone who thinks that (for example) interstate highway systems and carrier groups should be built and maintained by private enterprise.

    Our genial hosts here at samoosadata, however, are refreshingly free from such cant.

  • kim, I would be for both of those things if only one of our anarcho-libertarian confrères could give me a plausible theory how that might actually work… until such time I will remain a minarchist who sees such things as one of the few legitimate realms of government.

  • Bruce Hoult

    I’m all in favour of the government running military services. And they do contract with civilians for many of their support services.

    Would private enterprise have built the US Interstate system? That’s a harder one. First, you’d have to demonstrate that it has had a net positive economic benefit in the first place. If it hasn’t then not only would private enterprise not have done it but the government shouldn’t have either. Second there is the claim that is was in fact built principally for military purposes. In which case I’m sure private enterprise would have been happy to built and operate it if the military had promised to be an anchor customer. But the US government may well not have wanted to send those signals…