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Comment by apsec112 | Hacker News Reader

"Nobody is suggesting that we “prevent people from getting rich” or “end all economic inequality”."

FWIW, I've met tons of people who suggested this. Eg., at Google, I had a co-worker who was probably the best programmer on our team. He loudly and repeatedly argued for socialism (he literally used the word "socialism"), and for government seizure of all private property over some low-ish threshold per person. He very strongly believed that no one could ever earn the right to be rich, and that rich people were so bad for democracy that well-run countries shouldn't have any.

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How about "no politician in the mainstream with any sort of influence or power" is suggesting that? How about "not even Bernie Sanders" is suggesting that?

Politicians in the US track the median very closely. If 30% of voters believe something, close to 0% of politicians will. If 70% of voters believe something, close to 100% of politicians will. We saw this most clearly with gay marriage - Obama and most of the Democratic Party flipped their positions right when the poll numbers passed 50%.

It doesn't really matter. Even if you have a Pew poll saying that a good amount of voters believes that “prevent people from getting rich” or “end all economic inequality”- those are just vague sentiments and not real policy. There are no mainstream American politicians in either party with any proposals that even remotely resemble that sort of idea.

Yeah, that one dude's argument totally characterizes the entire progressive wing of the Democratic party...

I agree with your sentiment but I don't think sarcasm is going to get you anything but downvotes. The person you're responding might be underinformed and/or hasty generalizing, but probably deserves a more constructive reply.

Nutpicking deserves to be mocked. There are plenty of progressive economists, spokespeople, or empowered politicians; any of them are fair game for criticism.

Criticism, yes, I just think a more enlightening reply would do more for the conversation. The way I like to think of it is that you're refuting an argument for the benefit of other readers of the comment who may not be well informed / are persuadable, rather than to oppose the person you're replying to. Think of it as communicating a thoughtful missive to someone (who honestly doesn't know) that has asked you "what's wrong with that comment?"

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