I made a reasonably substantial point. You asserted that "HN essentially forces you to toe the line" and I brought up a counterexample to demonstrate that your assertion might not be entirely correct.

The person who responded to you showed the obvious logic.

I’m a leftist in tech. HN is not the place where you can publicly behave as an assertive leftist otherwise would.

You can toe a line without toeing a line. That's the group involved in enforcing the line.