Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> The US was founded on individual rights and freedoms, not community sacrifice.

Approximately 25,000 americans gave their lives in the revolutionary war. Every signer of the declaration of independence was signing their own death warrant should they have lost to the strongest military in the world. This country was 100% founded on community sacrifice.



The price of freedom is always paid in blood.

> This country was 100% founded on community sacrifice.

I recommend reading the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and if you really want to get into it, the Federalist Papers. I don't recall any of that advocating free food for all, UBI, free healthcare, etc.


What do you think patriotism is, if not "community sacrifice"?

GP's point is that you are playing fast and loose with words here, so much so that your point doesn't make sense. "Community sacrifice" is a much broader category than those few policies you dislike.


Take a look at the post I originally responded to. It wasn't about patriotism, it was about wealth redistribution.

That is true, but your reply generalized far more broadly, and you were rightly called out on that.

when you say 'individual rights', you should be honest about which classes of people that was referring to. By the way, don't be so defensive, the working poor are being absolutely crushed by capital right now, your guys won!


> you should be honest about which classes of people that was referring to

I'll go with "all men" from the Declaration of Independence.

> the working poor are being absolutely crushed by capital right now

They're being crushed by the government. You cannot make a country wealthy by raising taxes and redistributing the money.

> your guys won!

I go with the "all men" thang.


were blacks considered men? did it include women? it feels like you're purposely ignoring history

Btw ~40% of the people i've met in homeless outreach have full time jobs, taxes are not what's keeping them homeless. In china 90% of the population own their homes, I'm sorry but the all that libertarian shit is such an obvious myth to protect the rich. Every country I've ever visited with more redistributive policies has a substantially better quality of life


> were blacks considered men?

Yes. The people who wrote the Constitution were well aware of the conundrum, but were faced with the reality that they could not form a union without allowing the slaveholders to continue. In essence, they kicked the can down the road, which resulted in a catastrophic war.

> did it include women?

Yes. Whether the word "men" means exclusively men or men and women depends on the context.

> taxes are not what's keeping them homeless

You're suggesting that taxes don't have effects beyond just paying the money. When a businessman is taxed, for example, that means he has less money to invest in his business, which means fewer jobs, fewer purchases of plant & equipment, slower growth, higher prices, etc., all of which negatively affect the rest of the economy, including poor people.

> that libertarian shit is such an obvious myth to protect the rich

America's rich people came from poor immigrants. The same for America's middle class.

> Every country I've ever visited with more redistributive policies has a substantially better quality of life

Have you ever looked at the size of government spending on redistribution? The US abandoned libertarianism in the early 1900s.


You mean all land owning men or men of sufficient wealth (those who can vote). Certainly not women. In other words, the male elites.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: