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 At the bottom of the interventionist argument there is always the idea that the government or the state is an entity outside and above the social process of production, that it owns something which is not derived from taxing its subjects, and that it can spend this mythical something for definite purposes. This is the Santa Claus fable raised by Lord Keynes to the dignity of an economic doctrine and enthusiastically endorsed by all those who expect personal advantage from government spending. As against these popular fallacies there is need to emphasize the truism that a government can spend or invest only what it takes away from its citizens and that its additional spending and investment curtails the citizens’ spending and investment to the full extent of its quantity.
– Ludwig Von Mises as quoted by Toby Baxendale
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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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Oh, well, we’re too sophisticated these days to believe in Santa. Now we believe government can allocate resources more *something* than the market.
*efficiently*, *benevolently*, *justly*….
The whole problem is centralism. How about a new movement, Xcentralism, where the X stands for the swearword of you choice? The slogan could be “My Land- My Law!” Something simple and appealing to all.
Charles Kesler of the Claremont Institute, which has a very worthwhile website (sorry, I don’t know how to post links here), posts there a thought-provoking essay about “Progressivism” origins and Obama’s commitment to bringing it nearer to complete dominance. He was also interviewed on Uncommon Knowledge in May 2009 on the same topic on the Hoover Institute website (well worth a viewing).
That essay took me back to researching and reading some parts of Woodrow Wilson’s earlier writings, with his striking articulation that government is “organic” rather than mechanistic – which goes a bit beyond reification of that part of our social order. He also originates the “Living Constitution” concept – which haunts us to this day.
By odd coincidence, Mises’ was writing “Socialism” (German edition) at the time (1921-22) Wilson was implementing his own ideas here in the U S. The contrast of the two men’s works in overlapping periods could very well merit a doctoral dissertation.
President Wilson did lean towards the socialist position – although not the Marxist position (Wilson was no “Community Organizer”).
This can be seen not only by his writings as an academic – but also by the writings of his “other self” (what we would call today his Chief of Staff and main adviser) Colonel House.
In his book “Philip Dru: Administrator” Colonel House outlines a position of extreme government-worship, at a level that would make a Prussian wince.
However, we must be fair – the Republican “Teddy” Roosevelt (who was President a few years before the Democrat Wilson) also had a hatred of freedom and a love of collectivism.
None of these people needed J.M. Keynes to convince them of statist fallacies.
Great civilizations are not overthrown overnight – the internal decay that has been undermining Western Civilization was started by the “Progressives” and “Fabians” (and so on) long ago.