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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Samizdata quote of the day When under the pretext of fraternity, the legal code imposes mutual sacrifices on the citizens, human nature is not thereby abrogated. Everyone will then direct his efforts toward contributing little to, and taking much from, the common fund of sacrifices. Now, is it the most unfortunate who gains from this struggle? Certainly not, but rather the most influential and calculating.
– Frédéric Bastiat
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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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Why were the really smart Frenchmen born a long, long time ago?
Because those who would parent and educate any today have in fact emigrated stateside, perhaps?
Is there any better illustration of “a prophet is not without honor save in his own country” than the fact that the French produced, and proceeded to ignore, two of the greatest liberal thinkers (the other of course being Constant)?
Amen, Steve. Bastiat is my HERO, and I wish more people were familiar with him. All of his writing is very accessible and persuasive (I think.) But who is this Constant character? I suppose I’ll have to Google him and find out more. Thanks for the tip!
A cynic’s reinterpretation of this axiom is that it applies to all associations. The operative element is “imposes mutual sacrifices”. When the association is voluntary, an individual is free to leave when he or she deems they are sacrificing much more than they are gaining. Not so when it is the State. Then, the only recourse is revolution.
To assist in Googling Constant- his first name was Benjamin. Enjoy your discoveries.