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Comment by A4ET8a8uTh0 | Hacker News Reader

<<No, but government can tax you to do so, and now maybe you can’t get the leather seats in your Audi.

You want to avoid sniping. It is typically frowned upon.

That said, believe it or not, we are not that far apart on that front. The issue I have with the argument presented is that senior decision makers do not set policies that broadly benefit the populace ( as evidenced by reality itself ).

Apart from that, why are senior decision makers even a consideration here? The recession in the article is that of the mind. It is spiritual in nature ( and that is assuming we are assuming posited argument ).

If you are going to throw suicides at me again, I will ask you a simple question.

Why are suicides are inherently a bad thing? People want to die. Why do you feel you have an obligation to stop them?

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Forgive me, but you sound like someone who has never needed help from another person, or the help you received you felt you deserved.

I think you should remember that all of our lives affect each other. We have a social responsibility to pursue a society where those effects lead to happy, healthy people.

If you think you’d rather live in a survival of the fittest jungle there are plenty of countries you can move to. In the west, we consider the progress away from such things as one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments.

<<Forgive me, but you sound like someone who has never needed help from another person, or the help you received you felt you deserved.

That is not accurate. Just the other week I had to pay people do complete a task for me. The task in question I could not do on my own simply due to its nature and my lack of skill in that domain. I absolutely needed help. I fully accept I live in a society and there will be times, where my skills will simply not be enough to face every situation thrown at me.

<<We have a social responsibility to pursue a society where those effects lead to happy, healthy people.

Do we? Why is that thrown as an axiom of some sort? I am looking at the history of human race and the history of various societies is at odds with that statement.

<<If you think you’d rather live in a survival of the fittest jungle there are plenty of countries you can move to.

I am relatively certain I live in one of those countries now ( US ). I think most would argue it is considered part of 'the west'.

<<In the west, we consider the progress away from such things as one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments.

Who is we in this statement? There are entire groups in US devoted to the exact opposite position.

Then in the spirit of democratic values, I oppose the world you think we should (or do) live in. I hope a sufficient number of others will as well. I think we can and should aspire for more.

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