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Comment by agorabinary | Hacker News Reader

"Political extremist" is an empty ad-hominem --- please point out specifically what views of his are so distasteful.

“Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

"Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women — two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians — have rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” into an oxymoron."

Those sound pretty damning to me. Especially coming from a billionaire.

> Especially

I've only been around a few billionaires, but most of the multi-millionaires I've known pretty much toe the same schtick w/o the veneer of Ideology.

Which part of his statement is inaccurate?

I think making the claim that democracy and "freedom" aren't compatible is comedic at best. "Freedom" is an incredibly nebulous concept and it's no secret that we have AND should have laws that restrict behaviors like say murder, or rape. What he really means to say is "democracy is a threat to the things I want to do", and when it's coming from someone who's a member of the ultraelite, well, then... maybe it should threaten what you do. Democracy was created so THAT the masses could overpower the special interests of the elites.

The fact that freedom is a nebulous concept makes his claim nebulous, not comedic.

This was the first thing I thought of, and to be honest I'd be interested in seeing how this circle is supposedly squared.

I'm working on something pretty awesome for which, for the first time, pitching it to YC seemed like it could be a good idea; to be honest, I wouldn't feel right doing that now with YC talking out both sides of its mouth.

Probably his libertarian views.

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