I think the title is inaccurate and a bit inflammatory. He's not advocating stripping most Americans of their voting rights. He's advocating stripping a tiny minority of Americans of their voting rights - specifically the minority of Americans that pay no income tax
Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
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Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#42What is inherently unreasonable about the idea that only people who pay into the system get a say in how the system operates?
The constitution still guarantees fundamental human rights.
Another idea - everyone is eligible to vote for the presidency and House of Representatives, but only net taxpayers can vote for the Senate.
The idea that there should be some kind of checks and balances on spending taxpayer money, where the people who actually pay the taxes have a special status, isn’t fundamentally incompatible with any principle that I support.
Obviously the current system - where we collect $5T in taxes each year and spend $7T, creating an enormous and ever-growing debt that the system is clearly not able to control - is not working.
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#43Money is power. That is the problem with extreme wealth. It provides unaccountable power outside the democratic process. It is not surprising that an already powerful man wants even more power, but I do not understand why anyone else would go along with this.
I don’t understand what there is to gain for anyone by making the implicit system we have today explicit?
Maybe it is a clever play to shine light on the problem? (I doubt, but can't entirely discount, it.)
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#44Cool cool cool. Now let's hear from the people who endorse stripping him of his wealth.
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#45[flagged]
The sociopath part is what allows one to do what it takes to get ultra rich in the first place. Other than Gates, not one comes to mind who gives anything to charity, for example (yes, I’m sure one or two exists).
The first part of your comment is correct, the second part is both wrong and unnecessary glazing of Gates.
There's plenty sociopaths that give to charity, because it's a socially accepted display of wealth, and because it is quite convenient for tax purposes.
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#46[flagged]
The sociopath part is what allows one to do what it takes to get ultra rich in the first place. Other than Gates, not one comes to mind who gives anything to charity, for example (yes, I’m sure one or two exists).
basal take, completely incorrect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_charitabl...
the US is the most charitable country on earth as a percentage of GDP. There is so much philanthropy that the finance industry is building new businesses just to serve it
https://fintech.global/2026/04/29/the-philtech-revolution-wh...
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#47Money is power. That is the problem with extreme wealth. It provides unaccountable power outside the democratic process. It is not surprising that an already powerful man wants even more power, but I do not understand why anyone else would go along with this.
Sorry to knock you out of your cloud.
In democracy, power comes from demos. In capitalism, power comes from capital. Demos doesn't have concentrated capital.
Try starting a new party without capital and backing from people tied to mainstream media.
People never had power. Whenever they've thought they have power (revolutions), they fought for one new power hungry scumbag to replace old power hungry scumbag.
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#48Money is power. That is the problem with extreme wealth. It provides unaccountable power outside the democratic process. It is not surprising that an already powerful man wants even more power, but I do not understand why anyone else would go along with this.
It's a structural problem in our socio-technical system. You can't separate money and government, because "corruption" to some degree is the default state. Yes there are exceptions, but the opposite if the bad apple concept. You have to get lucky to find the good apples. Which means there is some structural insufficiency in the concept of money and government.
> It's a structural problem in our socio-technical system.
it has always been like this, has it not? almost by definition the more resources you have the more power you have. this is how the universe works.
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#49Why did a billionaire propose biasing the voting system towards the rich? Gee I wonder.
Maybe if they made it on effective tax rate. Your vote is weighed based on the percentage of INCOME that is taxed, but everyone gets a vote regardless.
Votes are equal because the belief system is that all people are equal. If you win the lottery, you don't instantly become a more valuable person.
Prior generations understood more clearly that the physical security that underwrites great financial successes is all underwritten in blood. A better heuristic is everyone gets the number of votes equivalent to how many of their lives they could give in a conflict.
Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
#50And the fall of Shopify begins now.