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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Spitzer, the noun It is occasionally an accolade when a person’s name becomes a figure of speech, such as ‘Churchillian’ for example. Far more commonly however it is a sign of cultural stigmatisation: a Hitler, a Napoleon, Fisking, Dowdification, Pilgerisation… these are not saying anything nice about the source of the respective terms.
And to which must be added, to be ‘a Spitzer’.
There is a magnificent article on TCS Daily called The Universal Spitzer that I strongly commend to everyone:
It is a shame that we only laugh at a Spitzer when his secret sex life is revealed to us. Instead of mocking Spitzers for their private foibles, we should be contemptuous of their public pronouncements. Whether it is “cleaning up Wall Street” or “giving everyone health care,” the Spitzers are making extravagant promises that only result in expanded government power.
Great stuff. Read the whole thing. The article also links to an excellent article by Virginia Postrel about the deeply unpleasant John McCain which I missed first time around.
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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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Folk need to becareful to not confuse “Spitzer” with “Spitzner”, though – Lance Spitzner, author of the “Know Your Enemy” series of papers on black-hat society, co-founder of the HoneyNet Project and all-round sound bloke, might get miffed.
Thanks for linking to Kling, one of the best economists around. If you look in the Arnold Kling archive on the TCS website there is a lot of insight and original thinking in the columns. Generally most original ideas are useless,but not so here. People on this side of the pond may find his take on health care especially interesting.
Also,go to the home page for his April 7 article- I have never seen libertarianism argued this way-a real gem.
Look Mr. de Havilland, you aren’t making this any easier.
Is John McCain functionally more dysfunctional than the available democratic options?
In terms of libertarian principles, yes. He is so honest about his authoritarianism that it may well be worse than whatever Hillary or Obama bring to the table.
But is it worth the lesson?
Is it really necessary to relive Jimmy Carter Part II just to reinforce the inalienable rights of the individual?
Can’t we just say “free markets= free people” and move on?
What I’m trying to say is, do we have to relive politicians fucking hookers in order for us all to realize that are just fucking politicians?
DO WE?
(i thought i tied all together in terms of thread relevance rather nicely..then again, im drunk)
75 th anniversary and such..
For true versatility, a word should also be a verb. ‘To Spitz’ could mean ‘to cast aspersions by the tonne’. Then being told “Don’t spitz!” would be useful.
Perry, I recommend Matt Welch’s book on McCain.