[adev_]

> One of the bedrocks of a startup economy is that the rule of law applies equally to the powerful and to the less powerful.

That has nothing to do with startup and economy. Equality in front of the law is one of the most basic property of any decent democracy.

It is even the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-huma...

[dotcoma]

Not to mention that these former startups are now the Navy, and they are almost all squarely on the side of the person who tried to overthrow democracy.

[epistasis]

It has a lot to do with both! HN is largely interested in startup economies, so I focussed on that in my comment.

I would contend that a startup economy can not exist without decent democracy. It's not an either/or as you frame it.

[dotcoma]

I disagree: TikTok, Alibaba, Deepseek, WeChat...

[epistasis]

Interesting, I had not considered these the products of a startup economy, but then I haven't investigated their origin deeply, and now will. Thanks!

[dotcoma]

There are many more: Baidu, Didi, Huawei, Xiaomi, BYD...