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

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.
– Ayn Rand

Samizdata slogan of the day

The whole principle is wrong; it’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t eat steak.
– Robert A. Heinlein on censorship

Samizdata quote of the day

It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right

– Winston S. Churchill

Samizdata quote of the day

I must point out that my rule of life prescribes as an absolute sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol before, after, and if need be, during all meals and in the intervals between them

– Winston S. Churchill, on the occasion of lunch with Ibn Saud, King of Saudi Arabia

Samizdata slogan of the day:

In Russia a man is called reactionary if he objects to having his property stolen and his wife and children murdered

– Winston S. Churchill

Happy birthday to Edmund Burke

“Whatever each man can separately do, without trespassing on others, he has a right to do for himself… all men have equal rights; but not to equal things.”

Edmund Burke was born 273 years ago today.

Samizdata quote of the day

What’s the difference between pornography and art? A government grant

– Unknown

Escape hatches needed

Thought for late Friday afternoon, prompted by the need for tax competition: “You cannot run a socialist experiment when there’s an escape hatch”.

Tom Burroughes
tom.burroughes@reuters.com

Samizdata quote of the day

President Bush announced today that they have stopped a terrorist organization that has taken millions and millions away from the American people. Yes! The IRS is finished!

– Jay Leno

Samizdata slogan of the day:

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

– Lord Acton

Samizdata quote of the day

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously

– Hubert Humphrey

Noam Chomsky, please take note,

Samizdata quote of the day

…the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.

– “On Liberty” by John Stuart Mill