Why be so snide, instead of actually writing an informative / useful reply? That would certainly take more effort, but this is Hacker News, there's supposed to be a higher standard of discourse here.

The original comment is nothing more than a generic libertarian rant, complete with the "gov" strawman, force-mapped to the matter at issue. It scarcely deserves more than the response to which you take objection.

What's the point of the down vote then, if not to enable an easy response (and influence) to something disagreeable without spurring entirely unnecessary and often negative comments?

Dismissing an ideology you don't agree with only highlights your own ignorance.

Copy and paste and argument from the internet if you can't form one on your own. Don't pretend "herp derp Rand Paul" is valid.

Reflexive yet vague anti-government sentiments deserve derision.

Wrong. Derision begets derision and tends to create an anti-intellectual feedback loop. There is no place for that here. Flag the people throwing insults around and move on.

You're right. I shouldn't have done that but I just couldn't believe that that was the top/first comment. It was one of my first posts and if I wanted to comment I should have taken the time to write an useful response.