Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Conservatism in the US hypothetically is supposed to encompass the preservation of people's privacy from the interference from others - including by the government, individuals, and companies.

But I think it's very telling that when companies interests and individuals interests conflict, then the favor recently has been towards the "freedom" of the companies at the expense of the individual. It's a shame.




"Conservatives" in the US should not be confused with the actual definition of "conservative." Nor should the republican party be confused with people that care about Republican ideals.


It's not just label confusion, it's an active contradiction in the principles most of them constantly espouse vs. the actual policies they enact.

But it is a little silly to have a "republican" party in countries (USA, France) where the monarchy is long gone.


American conservatism is conserving a different political history than you find in Europe. "Way back when", America was a constitutional republic with a distinct federal government with distinct separation of powers. That's the "good old days" that are conserved in America.

So it's not "silly" except that the same word "conservative" means different things in different contexts. Though that's true of the words "liberal", "democratic", "federal", and "republican" for that matter.


True Scotsmen should not be confused with real Scotsmen.


When you say "Republican ideals" do you mean lower case 'r' republicanism vs Republicans?

It's a pet peeve of mine. Same when people use democratic vs Democratic (party) interchangeably.


I think it's a little subtler than that. I think they believe that money == freedom, and the more money you have, the freer you are. Anything that gets in the way of making money prevents freedom.


Why did you stick an 'e' on that last word?


My mistake ;)


This does not restrict your freedom because you can still encrypt your traffic and obfuscate your browsing history easily using free and open source software.


Freedom is the right of all people, not just tech-savvy ones.


You do not have to be tech-savvy to install a browser addon.


Yeah, you do. Tor is not plug-and-play. It requires some degree of savvy to operate. Not a lot, but above the average.

But that's actually irrelevant. You shouldn't have to lift a finger to protect your basic rights. You ought to get them by default.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

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

Search: