5 ms·

How very Randian of you. I don't imagine that you'd have much luck convincing the hedge fund manager to donate to anything unless they themselves think it is im

How very Randian of you. I don't imagine that you'd have much luck convincing the hedge fund manager to donate to anything unless they themselves think it is important. And it is very hard to convince them that others have it bad when they have it so good. Asking the parent to contribute their hard-earned money also seems sort of disingenuous. How do you know they are not doing so? Even if they did, if they are unable to contribute enough (for any number of reasons), it likely will not effect the issue in a large enough fashion. A Democratic decision is not 'coercion'. If the public decides something is important enough to them to pass a law/change the tax code they are not coercing the rich to pay more. The wealthy could just leave (with all that would entail for both parties) and no longer make their money off/with said public... Or they could stay.

nickff 13y ago
>"A Democratic decision is not 'coercion'." So if a state decides (through referendum or legislative measure(s)) to compel slavery or imprisonment of one race or another, through police or military action, that would not be "coercion"?
- ItendToDisagree 13y ago
  Are you really attempting to equate slavery with the wealthy paying higher taxes? If we are reducing to absolute absurdity... This conversation is over. I have no interest in an HN fallacy battle. A 'democratic' decision to enforce slavery/commit genocide/etc is pretty clearly well outside of what was being discussed.
  - nickff 13y ago
    >"If we are reducing to absolute absurdity... This conversation is over." My example was based on the many governments which have treated certain races as sub-human; I agree it is not directly analogous, but I was trying to demonstrate that democracies are not always fonts of virtue. You went and called me a "Randian" (without any demonstrated reason), I believe it was you who was enjoining a "battle" through unsubstantiated allegation.
    - mempko 13y ago
      That's a joke. Name me one democratic government that voted a race of people into slavery?
      - nickff 13y ago
        I said "slavery or imprisonment of one race or another", and I believe the three examples below are all debatable, as to which they exemplify. Thirteen Colonies, 1705 Wood, Origins of American Slavery (1997), p. 92. "In 1705, almost exactly a century after the first colonists had set foot in Jamestown, the House of Burgesses codified and systematized Virginia's laws of slavery. These laws would be modified and added to over the next century and a half, but the essential legal framework within which the institution of slavery would subsequently operate had been put in place." Germany, 1933 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_March_1933 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_March_... South Africa, 1948 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_general_election,_1948 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_general_election,...
        mempko 13y ago
        Of course you realize these kinds of governments are labelled republics right? Ironically to prevent "the majority abusing the minority." So again, where is democracy involved here? In other words I had a trick question. You first have to ask what democracy is before you can even approach it....
  - alexeisadeski3 13y ago
    >Are you really attempting to equate slavery with the wealthy paying higher taxes? Equate? No. But there are of course similarities.

nickff 13y ago

>"A Democratic decision is not 'coercion'." So if a state decides (through referendum or legislative measure(s)) to compel slavery or imprisonment of one race or another, through police or military action, that would not be "coercion"?

ItendToDisagree 13y ago
Are you really attempting to equate slavery with the wealthy paying higher taxes? If we are reducing to absolute absurdity... This conversation is over. I have no interest in an HN fallacy battle. A 'democratic' decision to enforce slavery/commit genocide/etc is pretty clearly well outside of what was being discussed.
- nickff 13y ago
  >"If we are reducing to absolute absurdity... This conversation is over." My example was based on the many governments which have treated certain races as sub-human; I agree it is not directly analogous, but I was trying to demonstrate that democracies are not always fonts of virtue. You went and called me a "Randian" (without any demonstrated reason), I believe it was you who was enjoining a "battle" through unsubstantiated allegation.
  - mempko 13y ago
    That's a joke. Name me one democratic government that voted a race of people into slavery?
    - nickff 13y ago
      I said "slavery or imprisonment of one race or another", and I believe the three examples below are all debatable, as to which they exemplify. Thirteen Colonies, 1705 Wood, Origins of American Slavery (1997), p. 92. "In 1705, almost exactly a century after the first colonists had set foot in Jamestown, the House of Burgesses codified and systematized Virginia's laws of slavery. These laws would be modified and added to over the next century and a half, but the essential legal framework within which the institution of slavery would subsequently operate had been put in place." Germany, 1933 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_March_1933 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_March_... South Africa, 1948 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_general_election,_1948 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_general_election,...
      - mempko 13y ago
        Of course you realize these kinds of governments are labelled republics right? Ironically to prevent "the majority abusing the minority." So again, where is democracy involved here? In other words I had a trick question. You first have to ask what democracy is before you can even approach it....
- alexeisadeski3 13y ago
  >Are you really attempting to equate slavery with the wealthy paying higher taxes? Equate? No. But there are of course similarities.