Are you a socialist/communist? I've only heard socialists talk in these types of terms, "authoritarian" "totalitarian" etc when referring to the workplace.

I'm simply trying to get to the heart of people's beliefs, and understand why they think the way they do.

Well I'd say that companies, unlike governments in a nation, are myriad, and one has choices as to where to go. Similarly, the founders should retain as much control as they wish, as do the employees, as it's a bilateral contract. Now, for companies that essentially force workers to work, such as minimum wage shops, I have no sympathy for them.

Governments are myriad, just like companies are. There are hundreds to choose from, and one has choices as to where to go.

Sure, and if people don't like one, they are free to move to another country as well. Although this is harder by at least an order of magnitude than switching jobs of course.

No you aren't. You are hurling pejoratives around to win a point. As noted above, you are not even using the pejoratives correctly.

This is in no way "authoritarian". Basecamp is saying that if you want to sell your labor to them, they have a few requirements. Plenty of companies have this. Is making employees wear or uniform or wash their hands when they leave the restroom authoritarian? After all, if they don't follow those rules, they'll be fired and their income streams will be cut off.

It's fine for a job to have requirements, but why shouldn't those requirements be decided in a more democratic way?

Because the employees aren't buying their own labor. Why should they get a part in the decision about how someone else spends their money?

Because that's called plutocracy, which is bad. Things should be governed by democratic principles rather than plutocratic principles.

Particularly in the context of a workplace, where the workers are the ones actually doing all the work.

> Because that's called plutocracy, which is bad. Things should be governed by democratic principles rather than plutocratic principles.

This is a value judgment not shared by everyone. One/few person rule can be quite efficient in certain tasks such as rapid development and deployment of resources, because you can cut through red tape. At the same time, it can be inefficient in other tasks.