There's a reason political topics are discouraged on HackerNews, which is that they too often lead to unedifying discussions like this, in which nobody really learns anything and everyone comes away feeling worse.

Remember, the guiding principle behind the content on HN is "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity".

I've read through your comment threads to try and understand why you feel this to be a hostile place.

Personally, I'm quite sympathetic to Milton Friedman's ideas, along with Hayek and other prominent free marketers, and I know that many others on HN are too. I doubt that many people are downvoting you merely for expressing pro-free-market positions.

I can only see a couple of comments of yours that are being downvoted, but because you removed the content I can't tell whether or not that was fair.

What I can say is that whilst some people will downvote a comment just because they disagree with it, more people will do so because the commenter conveys a bad attitude, and is contributing to the very hostility of which you're complaining. I can't say if that's the case in this particular instance, but given how quick you're being to claim victimhood status, I think it's possible.

Why not look at the positives: your account has been active for just 9 days and you already have over 120 karma points. That doesn't sound too unwelcoming to me.

A few downvotes on comments are no big deal; people have all kinds of different reasons for downvoting, and they're nothing to do with you, but rather how you make the voter feel.

In the past I've been quite vocal with some personal insights on health/medical topics, which have sometimes attracted some downvotes, I gather because they're a bit far outside the mainstream for some people to be willing to accept.

But I don't mind; it forces me to keep researching and challenging my knowledge, and working harder to present my positions in ways that are more persuasive, whilst also accepting that some people will simply never be persuaded, no matter how well I do (which is equally true of certain economics concepts).

So please, try not to be too down on the place just because of a few downvotes, and remember that if everyone tries their best to present their ideas in an informative and gracious manner, HN will be an increasingly worthwhile place to discuss interesting and challenging ideas, and we'll all be better off.