Worth noting that the commenter you're replying to is only LARPing as a centrist. The comment history of his other (now-banned) accounts are directly at odds with some of the "truths" he claims to have realized.
That’s very often the case with these guys. No one can seriously look at the modern political landscape in the United States and seriously claim that both parties are effectively the same, or even that they both bear equal responsibility for the terrible state of government.
The Republicans have been in the business of scrapping the US for parts since the 90’s, it’s just accelerating. At worst, the Democrats have been ineffective opposition and overly captured by corporate interests.
It's a cope, and it follows the dynamic reactionary talk radio has been using for decades - get people riled up about the system in general, cool them off just enough to go vote Republican, and then leverage their having made that choice to rationalize why it was somehow justified. Rinse and repeat.
(I'm coming from a centrist libertarian position here, not a partisan one)
Note I said centrist libertarian. I think the Libertarian party, along with much of "libertarian" thought, has been captured by rightist fundamentalism - effectively turning it into crypto-fascism. But I continue to consider myself libertarian as I believe that individual liberty is still the most appropriate yardstick and framework by which to evaluate and analyze systems.
Your "unconditionally voted against any form of welfare" is what I call rightist fundamentalism. I figured out long ago that merely saying "no" to everything makes it so that politically soft targets (ie services that benefit citizens) take damage, while politically hard targets (eg defense industrial complex) continue unimpeded. So I'm right there with you on the heuristic of voting for subsidized education or healthcare in the face of having massive deficit budgets regardless. If I were given the choice I would much prefer sound monetary policy, but as that never seems to be an option then squeezing citizens while pouring trillions into corporate welfare and war is utter foolishness.
> No real structural change, regardless of who is in office
Except there was a huge structural change in 2024, with the blessing of autocratic authoritarianism by the voters (following its creation and approval by the supreme council and congress during 2016-2020). That is what you're ignoring and supporting by continuing to both sides here.
Pre-2016 administrations (and even Trump 2016) were not "dictatorships" - rather they were bureaucratic authoritarianism. That bureaucracy had at least kept the exercise of authoritarian power constrained and predictable.
You are a liar, it has been demonstrated. If you feel such a shame about your beliefs because you really do understand deep down that they’re wrong and that you are sinning, you should repent.
To continue to behave like you have been outs you as cowardly little worm.
https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=complianceowl
https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=owlcompliance