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]
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Life, faculties, production – in other words, individuality, liberty, property – this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.
– Frédéric Bastiat
The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.
– Jeff Cooper (10 May 1920 – 25 September 2006)
The Samizdata.net server was a bit grumpy earlier today but the good folks at Hosting Matters have opened it up, removed some dead mice from the treadmill, replaced them with new fresh ones and all is now well again.
He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one”.
– Jesus Christ, according to Luke 22:36 (New International Version)
Freedom, secularism, and rationality are not only Western values. Much of East Asia, eastern Europe, and Latin America are at various stages of embracing them. An alliance against jihadism could be very broad indeed. The Islamists themselves say that “all unbelievers are one people”. Might as well take them up on it.
– ‘Infidel’ commenting on Classical Values
Isn’t it hilarious? Muslims are outraged that the Pope would link Islam with violence and react – with violence. Magnificent.
– James Waterton
In recent UK opinion polls, 73% of adults surveyed supported public funding for research into the effects of global warming on hippopotamus obesity in Zambia, 65% supported laws regulating the length of rasta dreadlocks in the UK, 87% agreed with the statement “Islam is a religion of peace and reason”, 67% supported DHSS funded holidays in Spain for pigs and goats forced to work at petting zoos, 97% supported NHS funded cosmetic surgery for Cherie Blair, 78% believes that Elvis and Spike Milligan are alive and well and living in Area 51 in the USA and 75% supported paying more for the tax-funded BBC.
“I do worry that spokespeople for the Fairtrade movement suffer from a myopic romantic vision of the coffee farmer in a co-operative, whereas in truth such an existence is backbreaking and mired in exploitation.”
– Alex Singleton (via Owen Barder)
I don’t find taking my clothes off difficult, it’s the acting that’s really hard!
– so said Elena, who is a thespian, last night after dinner at Samizdata HQ
Libertarians should not be denying scientific fact. We should instead spend our time combatting the religious impulse of people to think the modern world is evil and that we must repent for our sins by living cruddy lives and waiting for (in their minds) our inevitable and justified doom at the hands of a wronged Gaia.
– Perry E. Metzger
I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
– Will Rogers
Inheritance taxes are of course loved by Jacobins of various hues, or by those well-meaning folk who imagine that we have to recreate an economic ‘level-playing field’ with each new generation. On that basis, it is more meritorious for a person to gamble away his millions than to give it to his children or friends. How perverse is that?
– Johnathan Pearce
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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