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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The mind cannot foresee its own advance
– F.A. Hayek
No, not that Hayek… this one!
Princes and democratic majorities are drunk with power. They must reluctantly admit that they are subject to the laws of nature. But they reject the very notion of economic law.
– Ludwig von Mises, Human action: A Treatise on Economics
Political revolutions do not often accomplish anything of genuine value: their one undoubted effect is simply to throw out one gang of thieves and put in another
– H.L. Mencken
If you had bought $1000 worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now
be worth $49. With Enron, you would have $16.50 of the original $1,000.
With Worldcom, you would have less than $5 left. If you had bought $1,000 worth of Budweiser (the beer, not the stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the 10 cent deposit, you would have $214. Based on the above, my current investment advice is to drink beer and recycle.
– Unknown, (via Alexander Baron)
[Editors comments: My only trouble with this advise, oh wise Illuminatus, is the choice of Budweiser. To quote ‘Spike’ from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’: “Many American beers are under-rated… this ain’t one of them”]
You see those dictators on their pedestal, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police, they are afraid of words and thoughts
– W.S. Churchill, referring to ‘book burnings’
It is best to act with confidence no matter how little right you have to it.
– Lillian Hellman
Saddam Hussein promised us the “mother of all battles” but in the event produced something like the daughter-in-law of an obscure cat fight. His soldiers quit, his air force flew to safety in Iran and in the end he only did a little of what he does best, the murder of innocents, mostly women and children, with a few Scuds lobbed into Israel.
-Wesley Pruden
(via Boris Kupershmidt on the LA-F)
Carter said to the Cuban people that the most important right is the freedom of assembly. The place where most Cubans assemble? Miami!
– Jay Leno, on ex-President Carter’s visit to Cuba
These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour.
– Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 30
The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!
I know not what course others may take but as for me: give me liberty or give me death.
– Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775, Richmond Virginia
These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour.
– Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 30
“Hey, Yutz! Guns aren’t toys! They’re for family protection, hunting dangerous or delicious animals and keeping the king of England outta your face!”
– Krusty the Clown from ‘The Simpsons’
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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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