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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ID card costs and benefits The public wants compulsory ID cards, but doesn’t like their cost, says Stephen Robinson of the Telegraph:
The public overwhelmingly supports the idea of compulsory identity cards, says a YouGov opinion poll published today in The Telegraph. But it strongly objects to having to pay £40 for them.
Seven per cent of those asked were so opposed to the cards that they said they would refuse to acquire or carry one. This suggests that if the Government introduces legislation for cards this year, as expected, the police would have to act against some three million “refuseniks”.
In other words, the costs of compulsion could be a lot greater than the public now realises. When the public realises a few years down the line that the benefits of it aren’t that great either, how will they feel then? Let’s hope we can explain the meagreness of those benefits to them now, soon enough to stop this thing.
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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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At the risk of sounding like Campbell, presentation is important. Here’s my take:
A yougov poll in today’s Telegraph has shown that one person in four opposes Big Blunkett’s plans for compulsory National Identity Cards. If the plans go ahead, around one person in fourteen will refuse to acquire the card even if that means breaking the law. Such unprecedented civil disobedience would put the police on a collision course with some three million citizens and would make the cards unworkable.