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| ▲ | beezlebroxxxxxx 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| > Genuine questions: what can be done in a democratic setting to stop him? Thiel is only "relevant" because he's wealthy. In a system that allows wealth to equal political power, systematically weakening the impact of wealth on civic and political systems is an effective method. Whether that can be done in America, with the current understanding of the constitution and the current philosophy that many take towards taxation/wealth is questionable; but the idea that we can do nothing is just not true. We don't need to slide back into an era of 19th century robber barons and pseudo-aristocracy. If we do, it's because we largely gave up or allowed it to happen. |
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| ▲ | NalNezumi 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | The difference to robber Baron this time is that those companies have gone global, so a new Teddy Roosevelt being elected in USA wouldn't help, because these multinationals can just extend outside jurisdiction. Which is very similar to the actual dynamic of states/federal that Teddy tackled [1] Unfortunately the political rhetoric have smeared "the globalists" and equated people that want global coordination to limit those multinationals with power, with the ones abusing it. Even the platform that was promising to drain the swamp turns out was just another swamp, so one would need to start from the scratch for that political movement. [1] https://youtu.be/ItKtQCAZHhg?is=-h_05pyB-37MHVJB | | |
| ▲ | expedition32 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | The penchant for Christ clown insanity is distinctly American though. Secularism never truly touched the hearts of Americans. |
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| ▲ | yuppiepuppie 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Ask yourself - where does his wealth (power) come from and how do you stop that? In his case - I assume most of it is from Palantir these days. Therefore stop your governments from contracting with them. |
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| ▲ | anaksjz 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | He’s a neocon project. All the way back to getting his start at the Stanford review. Him, Vance, etc are the face of right wing Jewish power in America after the neocons burn out as a sacrifice for this doomed Iran war. Palantir is just another symptom of the same problem thats kept America furthering Israel’s goals for decades now. People need to start seeing power is as much about who, whom as well as a specific government system or framework. Voting, debate, democracy are for people that are on the same team. Thiel, the neocons, yarvin etc are not Americans and not on our team. You do not vote your way out of these problems. | | |
| ▲ | yuppiepuppie an hour ago | parent [-] | | > Voting, debate, democracy are for people that are on the same team. Im sorry, but I dont agree with this one bit. Debate and the spread of ideas that you think are good is really the only thing that is lasting, regardless of which "team" you are on. I also dont think America(ns) have been on the same team for its entire history. Its not a very recent phenomenon that neocons have pioneered. > You do not vote your way out of these problems. Are you suggesting something else? |
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| ▲ | athrowaway3z 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| https://youtu.be/P8ijiLqfXP0?t=20 |
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| ▲ | mattkevan 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Not agreeing as a society that money == speech would be a good start. |
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| ▲ | JKCalhoun an hour ago | parent [-] | | I like that. I also like a two-pronged approach which includes taxing the billionaires out of existence. I haven't heard any significant downside to doing that. All the more so when weighed against the possible upsides. I think what frustrates me above all else is that we, as a society, as a people, could have it so much better. We could all be living in such a better world but for the allowances we make for the most sociopathic and greedy among us. | | |
| ▲ | mattkevan an hour ago | parent [-] | | I sometimes think there should be a completion state to capitalism. When you reach an arbitrary score, like $100 million, you get presented with a cup that says ‘congratulations, you won capitalism’ on it and are given the choice of either playing again from the start but this time on hard mode (no emerald mine or parents being friends with the IBM chairman this time), or keeping your winnings but fucking off somewhere to never be seen or heard of again. Seriously though, that billionaires can exist, that so much power and wealth can be concentrated in the hands of so few while so many have nothing is utterly repugnant. |
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| ▲ | jackmott42 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| We are not in a democratic setting in America any more, the people in power are willing to start wars to protect pedophiles, they are willing to hire Nazi thugs to shoot your wives in the face. They are willing to bribe supreme court justices and dismantle democracy, and they will if not stopped by force. Thiel has been obviously and evil sack of shit for decades but more than half of HN viewers revere him. I fear we have no hope, and the good people asking how we can democratically solve this problem makes me feel even more hopeless. Yall don't get it. |
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| ▲ | avidphantasm 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| What would China do to such billionaires run amok? |
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| ▲ | camillomiller 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | This is the only answer that has any reference to an actionable approach that has been proven to work. |
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