3 ms·

In one HN thread, people complain about the U.S. not forcing people to get vaccinated, and in another thread it's about how the U.S. is becoming an authoritaria

In one HN thread, people complain about the U.S. not forcing people to get vaccinated, and in another thread it's about how the U.S. is becoming an authoritarian state. I take no position on these arguments, I just get spun around trying to track whether the U.S. is being overrun by libertarians or authoritarians sometimes.

coding123 5y ago
I SAW THAT TOO! LOL
all2 5y ago
Yes. This country has a 10/90 split between the authoritarians (who mostly live in large cities and are themselves in semi-authoritarian conditions - New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, etc. [0]) and the rest of the people (the Silent Majority) who live in suburbia and the Middle of NoWhere. Unfortunately the Silent Majority just wants to be left alone. They are getting more vocal (Tea Party during the Obama years, most pro-Trumpers, others) but they are slow to act and lack any sense of retaliation when they are shut down [1]. They think if they keep their heads down the totalitarian system developing at a national level will leave them alone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b..., about 35 million Americans live in cities larger than 1 million total pop [1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/irs-scandal-fast-facts/ar-BB19jlV0 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/irs-scandal-fast-fac... > In May 2013, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report indicating the targeting involved delaying the processing of applications by certain conservative groups and requesting information from them that was later deemed unnecessary. [edit] remove unrelated statement [\edit]
stavros 5y ago
It's almost as if there are more than two people here.
mdoms 5y ago
> I just get spun around trying to track whether the U.S. is being overrun by libertarians or authoritarians sometimes. You get spun around when different people make different arguments?
agentultra 5y ago
It might be because they're the same thing. Libertarianism leads to oligarchies led by the richest. Billionaires seem to like this idea. I suspect the reason is so they won't have anyone nagging them to pay taxes and could write law without having to spend money funding think tanks and lobbyists.

coding123 5y ago

I SAW THAT TOO! LOL

all2 5y ago

Yes. This country has a 10/90 split between the authoritarians (who mostly live in large cities and are themselves in semi-authoritarian conditions - New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, etc. [0]) and the rest of the people (the Silent Majority) who live in suburbia and the Middle of NoWhere. Unfortunately the Silent Majority just wants to be left alone. They are getting more vocal (Tea Party during the Obama years, most pro-Trumpers, others) but they are slow to act and lack any sense of retaliation when they are shut down [1]. They think if they keep their heads down the totalitarian system developing at a national level will leave them alone. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b..., about 35 million Americans live in cities larger than 1 million total pop [1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/irs-scandal-fast-facts/ar-BB19jlV0 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/irs-scandal-fast-fac... > In May 2013, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report indicating the targeting involved delaying the processing of applications by certain conservative groups and requesting information from them that was later deemed unnecessary. [edit] remove unrelated statement [\edit]

stavros 5y ago

It's almost as if there are more than two people here.

mdoms 5y ago

> I just get spun around trying to track whether the U.S. is being overrun by libertarians or authoritarians sometimes. You get spun around when different people make different arguments?

agentultra 5y ago

It might be because they're the same thing. Libertarianism leads to oligarchies led by the richest. Billionaires seem to like this idea. I suspect the reason is so they won't have anyone nagging them to pay taxes and could write law without having to spend money funding think tanks and lobbyists.