Ask HN: Can you be openly politically right-leaning in tech in North America?

You are absolutely spot on. Big tech snuffs out anything contrary to globalism and wokeism. Few days back I mentioned the shift in govt focus to “domestic terrorism” vs the “jihadi terrorism”, the comment was taken out on HN.

While at the same time big tech acts as activist and cheerleader for “domestic terrorists” in India. Supporting a Jan 6 style riot to overturn thr Modi govt disguised as now 18 month long “farmer protest” funded by western globalists.

Bottom line it does not matter what the issue is, the big tech including HN does not tolerate dissenting voices at all - particularly if they are articulate. Let us see how long this comment lasts- 2 mins max.

The voting rights point is interesting. My understanding is that one side wants more verification of eligibility, but the other side is worried that if the approach to verification is too onerous that voter turnout will decrease.

There's seemingly a parallel to the gun control discussion, where again one side wants more verification of eligibility, but the other side is worried that the verification--if applied over-zealously--will be too restrictive.

The two sides are swapped on the two issues, but each time they disagree not necessarily because their fundamental opinions are different, but because they do not trust the other side to be reasonable.

> run counter to science, diversity/inclusivity, and human rights

I see it has "healthy scepticism".

Right leaning sure! I’m right leaning… I mean at least I think I am since I’m a Republican [3].

For the most part, what makes people “lean right” is religious precepts [1] which are covered under Federal labor law protections so no one can actually discriminate against you if you voice them. The other thing that traditionally made people lean right is economic concepts (think Ron Paul), and at worst people think you’re boring for bringing that stuff up.

Thing is none of that stuff is really in vogue so we who lean right in that way basically don’t talk about it, and are totally overlooked by the media.

What you can’t be is…

1. A supporter of Trump and/or the insurgents

2. A ethonationalist of any kind

3. Someone who can’t help but speak out against a protected group (e.g. women, transgendered, people of foreign birth)

Now politics wise we who merely “lean right” would say that all of those three groups aren’t on our right… they’re on a totally different spectrum same as the one occupied by ecoterrorists, and authoritarian communists.

Now I come from Northern Virginia, the actual birthplace of that flag southerners love waving so frantically and I know many people who count themselves as conservative (religiously, economically, socially) who trashed their flags when they learned the story behind their creation[2].

So right vs left? It’s not really that simple.

[1] My screen name is from the sadly much diminished jeans company, but in their heyday that denim really deserved its cult following.

[2] William Porcher Miles designed the flag of the army of northern Virginia, which is now basically known as the confederate flag. You would be hard pressed to find a dude more supportive of slavery than this guy. He started his political career just to advocate for keeping people in chains, and said it was a “Divine institution” and the white in the flag was representative of … you guessed it white skin. Can’t get more white nationalist than that.

[3] Left and right are concepts of political parties in the US, not actual beliefs. I’m kinda hoping the Democrats will create space to capture all the people in the Republican Party who do not love the direction it’s gone down in the past 10 years.

Neither side is really arguing in good faith - they both just want more votes for their party.

I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with voter ID laws. Many democracies in Europe have them. In America they might be unnecessary overkill, but if they increase faith in the electoral process, that's awesome.

The actual issue is that we don't have federal ID cards, and there are a ton of citizens without any form of government-issued photo ID at all. If you're very poor, the idea of paying for a driver's license might seem ridiculous because you have neither a car nor a bank account.

Any good-faith proposal to enforce voter IDs would have to pair it with making IDs simple and free to get for every registered voter, otherwise it can be justly criticized as antidemocratic.