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 slogan of the day

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul
– George Bernard Shaw

Samizdata slogan of the day

It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they can’t see the problem.
– G.K. Chesterton

A period of silence would be welcome

A protester against a possible war against Iraq is urging fellow-minded people to observe a 24-hour period of total silence as a way of registering their views.

It is tempting to mock, but this writer cannot help feeling that if 99 percent of so-called peace activists took a Trappist monk-like vow of silence, the rest of us who do think there is a case for ridding the world of Saddam would be grateful. Come on you Ted Ralls, Robert Fisks, Michael Moores – shut your traps.

Many a true word said in anger

Sometimes politicians blurt out the pure unvarnished truth even against their devious instincts. I cannot beat this gem from French farm minister Herve Gaymard, who on Tuesday brushed aside British complaints over farm subsidies, saying the Brits only wanted the EU to be a free trade zone.

As the saying goes, I do believe he’s got it!

Samizdata slogan of the day

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

Samizdata slogan of the day

Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.
– H. G. Wells

Samizdata slogan of the day

Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.
– Adam Smith, 1755

Samizdata slogan of the day

Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.
– P. J. O’Rourke

Samizdata slogan of the day

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.
– Benjamin Disraeli

Samizdata slogan of the day

There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.
– Margaret Thatcher

Samizdata slogan of the day

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.
– Vaclav Havel

Straight face on insanity

Watching Britain’s Channel 4 news channel last night, I was treated to the amazing scene when its main newscaster, Jon Snow, announced that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had been reelected by more than 99 percent of the vote. No mention was made of the fact that the elections did not permit anyone else but Hussein to stand, thereby rendering the vote’s outcome a total farce. What was even more bizarre was how Snow – a man of the Left – announced the result with a totally straight face.

To be fair, the programme’s subsequent coverage of the poll highlighted its essentially coercive nature. Even so, Snow’s performance was telling.