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 A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take everything you have
– Barry Goldwater
I stumbled across this evergreen Goldwater remark on Gmail, where it is also quote of the day. A somewhat surprising choice for them, considering Google’s rather obvious political biases.
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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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Being big enough to take everything you have is probably Google’s mission statement
And right on cue…
“Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, announced that she was delaying the Bill in order to expand the extent of surveillance powers open to the security services, while consulting further on the best way to win public support for the plan.”
Note the lack even of a pretense of serving the public. The only interest in the public is how to propagandise them into submission.
What are Google’s political biases and why are they rather obvious?
Are they supporters of ‘big-government’?
If so, how have they revealed this?
I thought the quote came from Reagan. Doesn’t matter, of course, since The Gipper was a Goldwaterite in most respects.
Reagan of course, pointed out that the most terrifying words anyone hears is the expression “We’re from the government and we are here to help”.
Point of interest: the quote was penned by Karl Hess, spoken by Barry Goldwater.
Bonus Karl Hess story: he had undergone some medical procedure, I don’t know what, and when he came to, the doctor asked him who the president was. He responded, “Who the hell cares?”
I thought Gerald Ford said that…..
Yeah Google is a huge leftist company, they love them some socialism. However, I think the quote of the day thing is tailored to your interests/opinions somehow, because I rarely see the kind of wealth hating/saccharine nonsense typical for the statist crowd. I do see a disproportionate number of quotes regarding government and it’s dangers.
I think they’re watching what I search for or something.
Interesting to compare Goldwater’s quote with a line from the late Robert Sheckley’s 1966 novel, Mindswap: That which you call a crime when one man does it, you call a government when many men do it.
Our newly ennobled Lord Mandy would seem to be the very embodiment of that.
Of course, in the current situation, the government has taken away MORE than everything we have.
Just a clarification, Gerald Ford said that during a joint session of Congress on August 12th, 1974.
Perhaps, but if so he was merely quoting Goldwater.
Interesting how these “quotations” morph. The version I have is slightly different at the end: “A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.”