Primarily people submit links. Submitting text directly such as you have done here is fine for short questions, but generally frowned on for long "think pieces." Not least, URL-less submissions are penalized in the rankings, so are less likely to get to the front page.
Make sure you read the FAQ: http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
Before asking too many questions, it's worth reading jacquesm's[0] extended FAQ[1]. It's a little out-of-date, there's stuff missing, but it helps a lot. It's worth re-reading every few weeks until you get acclimatized. Even then it's worth re-visiting every now and again.
There's also the HN welcome guide[2] that you really need to read.
After that, go, write something, submit the URL, see what people think. Read more, but more importantly, do stuff. It's reporting on stuff you've done that most people like.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jacquesm