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 quote of the day Unfortunately we are at the stage now where the streets (so to speak) need to go visit their MPs, rather than the other way around. Voting is not the only way to express a political opinion.
– Perry de Havilland, who is just cheerfully channelling the zeitgeist
|
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.
|
Can’t see that my local SNP MP (Pete Wishart) is going to give much credence to my complaints about BRExit, valid or not.
He does at least have the genuine response that Leaving was never in the SNP’s 2017 General Election manifesto, nor was it what the country (Scotland in this case voted for), nor are they unionists who support the UK anyway.
He might pander to me in an effort to get me to vote for him, but that’s pretty unlikely. His 2017 win with a majority of 21 makes his the second most marginal seat in the UK, but All-in-all it would be a rather pointless exercise for all concerned.
Nonsense – the very last thing Britain needs now is ‘street action.’
What is needed, urgently, is a willingness for the betrayed people to engage in national politics sufficiently to ensure that when this Foul Parliament is evicted, the MPs who replace them are no longer so utterly contemptuous of the people who elected them.
For libertarians this is very difficult, because it means opting into boring meetings in back rooms with people you’d probably not want to waste your evening with otherwise. It means lending not just your voice, but your efforts, to getting rid of the Foul Parliament.
Shoulders to the wheel time! Once we’ve got rid of the Foul Parliament, we can all go back to being pretendy libertarians. But not now – now is the time for a positively Athenian recommitment to democracy, recognizing that disdaining to make the effort marks you out as an Idiot.
Agreed that Libertarians need to take action. But frankly what?
There seems to be a lot more mileage in trolling your way to PM than anything else. Tommy Robinson for Leader then?
The establishment needs a big kick in the teeth….
Or is it Corbyn out of spite hoping he will gobble up Billionaires who wrecked Brexit first?
I don’t hate Nigel Farage, but he looks like not nearly enough of a disruption….
Two suggestions:
1) Stop paying MPs ( my favourite ). They should attend Parliament on the same basis as the TA perform their duties. The TA remuneration rates would be a good guide to an MPs remuneration too. Since an MP is not generally expected to die as a result of his line of work.
or if that’s not acceptable,
2) Cause the Parliamentary salary of an MP to be collected in the constituency of the MP. And itemised on the Council tax demand.
Who gets to choose who gets selected/deselected as an MP? Good luck getting ‘good guys’ to vote for.
The system we have taken for granted is coming apart before our very eyes. Should people get involved in politics to change things? Sure, but that is not going to be enough on its own unless the background also changes. I am not saying trashing your local high street will achieve anything good (it won’t), I am just saying votes are not the only way to express a political opinion.
For example, this is quite interesting. Just playing within the system, operating within the assumed meta-context of Parliamentary supremacy is what got us here. That is what your enemies want. Sure, work the systems to try and ‘throw the rascals out’, but don’t just to that because it is a game strongly rigged against you.
‘I am just saying votes are not the only way to express a political opinion.’
My point is there comes a time when satisfying a desire ‘to express a political opinion’ is mere self-indulgence when compared with the grubby work of actually involving yourself in political action. Action not opinion. Which in this case means getting involved in your local party, getting involved in the local and national elections and working as hard as one can to ensuring the Foul Incumbents are banished from our political life.
Yes, this means abandoning one’s pristine ideological virtue and combining with others. Forming coalitions. In normal times, one can safely ignore the costs (of all sorts) involved in this. But these are not normal times: the Foul Parliament is in full coup-mode against the electorate, so it is time to work hard to make sure the Foul MPs are banished from our political institutions. If they remain in place, nothing will change, ever.
Yes, I get what you are saying, Michael, and I am all for you and others doing exactly what you suggest. Indeed it is essential.
And I am well aware that party politics is the art of the possible, not an exercise in ideological purity. That said, there comes a point where compromise and capitulation become one and the same. I have argued in the past that libertarian ‘parties’ are a waste of time & often counter productive, because I not only do I understand libertarianism (I am all for it) but I also understand politics (which is rather like taking a crap, messy and smelly but unavoidable).
But I think that unfortunately you are only half right. The more ‘normal’ things remain, the more ‘normal’ politics will remain. Like it or not, the system is in the process of de-legitimising itself, with all that implies. Look, I am a wealthy guy with a lot to lose if things really come unglued, so I am not saying what I am saying with glee (far from it), I am just saying it the way I see it.
Collectivists are much better at organising street mobs (“protests”) – this is such an obvious point (collectivists are natural mob organisers) that I should not need to say it, but its seems I do.
And, OF COURSE, the media (including the dishonest pretend right – such as the utterly vile Daily Fail) will libel any pro independence protests as Fascist and Nazi.
Look how the media are taking the sarcastic (wildly sarcastic) comments of the Christchurch mass murderer (a National SOCIALIST who believed in worker coops controlling everything – although the media is unlikely to tell you that) about Candice Owens, it is obvious that he actually hates her – but the media are reporting his sarcastic comments of support as literal truth.
The Daily Fail (and other vermin) will report any protests against the betrayal of British independence as nasty Nazis opposing our beloved ruler Theresa May (who-can-do-no-wrong).
I would have qualified to be gassed by the Nazis – but I assure you that the “mainstream media” (including most of the “Conservative” newspapers) would have no hesitation (none) in libelling me as a Nazi.
The fight continues as before.
Right now the likely outcome is May’s third deal will pass and we will leave.
May’s third deal is unlikely to be acceptable to most Brexiteers, but the defeatist attitude is fast becoming to get out of the EU whatever happens, even with a cr*p deal that is “in name only”.
The fight continues afterwards.
It is likely some event will initiate a General Election in the near future, and it is almost certain May will go before then, it is possible she will be replaced by someone more willing to implement the referendum result.
That General Election will be interesting, any candidate wishing to stand on a “let’s go back into the EU” ticket will most likely get hung out to dry, especially in the North, and we could conceivably end up with a parliament of pro-Brexit MPs and a PM who is willing to put forward revisions of the EU treaty so we distance ourselves even more and unravel any attachments that May might have locked into.
This could probably become easier once we start doing deals independently, assuming that is still in the final deal.
There are loads of things that can go wrong with this scenario, but the decision to fight outside of the normal methods is far from being on the table yet.
Farage is building up steam under a new name, he never got to park his tanks on the Tory/Labour lawns once Cameron adopted his referendum policy, maybe his day will come.
Michael Taylor is correct – it is time to serious.
No more talk of “Brexit” (a meaningless term – that was a gift to Mrs May with her “Brexit means Brexit”, i.e. it means whatever Mrs May wants it to mean), instead a hard struggle for the INDEPENDENCE of this nation – and that means the vital work of DESELECTING “Conservative” M.P.s who oppose INDEPENDENCE.
This struggle is underway – but much help is needed, please help.
Please join your local Conservative Association – and make sure that the officers of that Association (elected as the AGM) are pro INDEPENDENCE (not “Brexit”) – and will help get rid anti Independence Members of Parliament.
A lot of hard and incredibly frustrating work – I do not deny that.
However, if you really want British independence (not Mrs May and her “common rule book” “Brexit”) the above is what you must do.
I intend to devote what is left of my life to this task, but I will not be around to see British independence – I rely on YOU (dear reader) to get the job finished.
That’s giving in to the system. Next time it will require more meetings in back rooms and more meetings in back rooms until your whole day, your whole profession is meetings in back rooms or else you’re left with whatever those meeting in back rooms decide not to take from you.
Its meeting in the back rooms to change the government and then its meeting in the back room to decide on tax rates and then its meeting in the back room to set school lunch prices and then its meeting in the back room to decide how threads-per-inch cotton sheets should have. The sort of people who love back room meetings will dominate the country.
Far better to march to your MP and drag his arse out into the street for a good kicking. Then they’ll understand that the people they meet in the back rooms are not the only people in the country they need to pander to.
Agammamon.
If you wanted total victory by the “liberal” establishment then you have suggested the correct policy – you have just suggested criminal physical violence “drag his arse out into the street for a good kicking”.
Well that means the “liberal” elite win (totally and absolutely) – as it would be PROVED that their foes were violent thugs. The mass media would NOT have to lie about you – as you would have just proved their lies to be the TRUTH.
You are much like the people who David Woods and others have attacked over the years for saying that Muslims should have physical violence directed against them.
No conflict of ideas, no debate, no deselection of Members of Parliament – just “drag his arse out in the street for a good kicking”.
If you are not a idiot Sir – you are making a brilliant impersonation of one. The murder of a “Remainer” Member of Parliament in the run up to the referendum almost cost us the pro independence result – and made it a much closer result than would otherwise have been the case. And what sort of man murders a Member of Parliament for the “crime” of not agreeing with him.
Total and absolute victory by the left “liberal” elite – that is what your policy of violence would lead to.
“Well what have your meetings in backrooms achieved” – the meetings I have attended have prevented Kettering Borough Council from increasing Council Tax in the last TEN YEARS, which means that inflation has greatly reduced the burden on the taxpayers. That was not easy – and it was not achieved by acts of criminal violence.
I did not “drag his arse out into the street for a good kicking” or take a firearm and shoot some UNARMED Muslims in a place of worship.
I write under my own name – knowing my words could be taken, out of context, by my political opponents and used to destroy me.
What am I to make of someone who suggests criminal violence – and does not even use his real name.
So sad. I mean that sincerely. I was ecstatic when Brexit referendum succeeded and still consider it a glorious day the UK gave the entire global media establishment, political establishment, and financial establishment a big middle finger.
When will otherwise intelligent people realize that the game is rigged. Democracy is a sham that is destroying western civilization. By participating you are legitimizing the process – and the process is run by the enemies of libertarians and small-government types.
I have no doubt that Brexiteers will succeed in unseating MANY Tory MPs who voted against Brexit in parliament. I also have no doubt that this will lead to the same outcome as June 23, 2016: nothing of lasting consequence. The EU’s regulatory strictures and restrictions and policies will remain largely a part of the UK’s economy and society no matter what MPs are voted out of office.
Reagan Revolution failed, Tea Party failed, Brexit failed, Coolidge failed, Harding failed, Jefferson failed. Why? Were all these politicians and leaders stupid? Unlucky? Bad marketing? Poor strategic planning?
The right is gradually dismantled in democratic societies by definition. Resistance is not only futile – it is counter-productive because it gives your enemies, the enemies of liberty, the pretext and cover they need to impose even greater restrictions on individual liberty more quickly than they otherwise would.
Democracy is the controlled demolition of social order through mandated, organized conflict orchestrated by the elites. Democracy inherently is antagonistic to the principles that underpin a free society and an orderly society. I’ve said it for years and I’ll say it again – there is and always has been and always will be a ruling class. Ink blots on a piece of paper does not rule. Even the ink blots on that piece of paper most people voted for in June of 2016 that spelled : Brexit. even those ink blots cannot rule.
As you are finding out. God speed.
This whole charade in the UK reminds me not only of the quip that men – NOT INK BLOTS – rule and that therefore the Constitution is not what rules but rather it is the SCOTUS interpretation of the Constitution and related laws that rules.
This whole charade in the UK also reminds me how empty the phrase “rule of law” is. it’s like a religious dogma for modern people. There is no proof that law rules and just trotting out the phrase proves nothing except that there still exists a misplaced hope in the ability of ink blots to over-ride the will of bureaucrats, judges, politicians, professors, and and media. The Constitution is nothing compared to the Living Constitution and Brexit vote of June 2016 is NOTHING without a leader who will see it through.
Faith in rule of law is why Brexiteers agreed to have a pro-Remain anti-Brexit politician lead the country after Brexit won the Referendum. Spineless pro-Brexit Tories and libertarians always manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in democracy often because they believe in “rule of law” while Progressives notice that it is the “rule of people” that actually gets stuff done.
I feel pity for libertarians. There is no hope at the end of the tunnel – only the usual fruits of democracy: debt, chaos, and bloodshed. All because some people didn’t realize that “self-rule” and “limited government” are oxymorons.