If all it took was hard work to live a dignified life there would already be plenty of dignity. The fact of the matter is the world doesn't work on dreams, hopes, and hard work. Silicon Valley had plenty of failed companies to prove this. It works on the fact that bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people and the vast majority of your ability to deal with that comes from how much money your parents had, something over which you have no control. The fact that you have to pay dues in the form of taxes to be part of something like the United States shouldn't be a hard choice to make. We're all willing to pay for corporate welfare, military excess, public land give aways to private entities, but heaven forbid we give up a little bit of cash in the form of taxes to help our fellow citizen. If you look at the outrage on taxes it's always when it comes to helping other people. Access to healthcare shouldn't be a political issue. There is no liberty in a life where one must make the choice between certain death and loss of freedom. As a citizen you're also not compelled to stay in the United States. You can gain all the benefits of citizenship and live in another country. You can even choose to become a citizen of another country. This idea that you're forced to help your fellow citizens is plainly a falsehood. As soon as you become an adult you're free to leave the country. Compulsion is an illusion.

No, you are not free to leave because the supposed other country might not take you in and even if they do it is a big process, nor are the costs of travel negligible.

I think every country offers an immigration program of some kind. To get super pedantic you can show up in Svalbard and live there forever with no immigration process - you just get off the plane and tell the Norwegian governor you live there now. So there is always somewhere you can go. I think the travel costs are the smallest part of immigrating somewhere new (especially since most immigration programs are employment sponsored). That’s not to understate the scope of what you’re doing, it’s a big decision, though it definitely is an option. I guess I’m saying “yes and no.”

What you’re describing is what we call “society.” In a society we compel acts from others as they compel ours and in exchange we’re all better off for it. The whole “you can’t make me” argument in the face of death and suffering evokes a screaming match between a 10 year old and their parent over cleaning their room. It’s not a good look.

The fact is an individual in America who “made it all by themselves” was the beneficiary of myriad social service: public education, roads, water, rail, police, fire, the courts, the army, the regulators and the agencies like the EPA. Drawing the line at healthcare, sick time, and paid leave rules is just a truly arbitrary line in the face of all this.

> No ideological purity survives the myriad of real world circumstances...

Well said. In my opinion the default should be that you can live a comfortable life, and if you are successful you should be rewarded with outsize returns. In part because we as a society can afford to treat everyone well, and also because a baseline of comfort frees you to take risks. It’s how people who do well at a startup suddenly have money, and many more of them on average go on to start their own.

>> No ideological purity survives the myriad of real world circumstances

Just wanted to praise the way you've been able to summarise something I find so true.