The essay is a short intellectual autobiography. Its key line is: “Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” He wrote that “the 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics,” and that since 1920, “the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women — two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians — have rendered the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ into an oxymoron.” His answer was not a political takeover but “escape” through new technologies: cyberspace, outer space and seasteading. [1]
In his follow-up he wrote: “It would be absurd to suggest that women’s votes will be taken away or that this would solve the political problems that vex us. While I don’t think any class of people should be disenfranchised, I have little hope that voting will make things better.” [2]
What we can’t tell you. What he believes now about democracy is a matter of his later speeches, not this essay.
His follow-up: “I don’t think any class of people should be disenfranchised.”
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DOCUMENTED Democracy, seasteading & ideas
“Thiel wrote that freedom and democracy are incompatible.”
“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
He wrote that extending the franchise to women made “capitalist democracy” an oxymoron for libertarians, then wrote no group should be disenfranchised.
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