#Bitcoin er pic.twitter.com/hGsYHMBqot
— ⚡₿itcoinTeddy⚡ (@Bitcoin_Teddy) October 7, 2024
We can’t get past politics ’cause we got bitcoin now, bro’. Sometimes I see this kind of t-shirt or sentiment shared online, but it’s just a mistake.
Just to prove I’m not strawmanning, here’s another similar example:
My condolences to anyone who cares about politicians 😅
Trust the statistics, not the politicians.
– FractalEncrypt ∞/21M (@FractalEncrypt) October 16, 2024
If you just say “I don’t care about politics” or you don’t like the politics of a certain party, that’s one thing, but it’s not enough to protect your freedom. As the saying goes, you may not be interested in politics, but politics interests you.
Backtracking a bit here
Even if we don’t get involved in the upcoming US presidential election, politics in general is about group decision-making, and the expression of power relations between people. We decide who will control which resources are scarce and competitive, in a way that effectively keeps people together while reducing conflict. In a sense, Bitcoin helps reduce conflicts over ownership of money, using cryptography.
But remember the truth here
Now yes, we can talk about freedom, anarcho-capitalism and crypto-anarchy on a philosophical level. But the situation exists today. So given this fact, if you want to protect your political rights, it is still important to get involved in some way. That could mean campaigning and contributing to bitcoin, economics and liberal education, it could be writing a proposal to voice your opinion or lobbying for a pro-bitcoin policy, it could mean being part of a certain group, it could even mean contributing. movements and causes of separation.
But giving up the political arena completely to your enemies is a bad decision. In some cases, it’s because politicians don’t know about Bitcoin, and they ‘follow’ it by seeing the headlines. In these cases with no real information, teaching Bitcoiners to talk to them, and helping them not make big mistakes will help. It can reduce the risk of bad regulations or rules in your storage, transfer, mining, node operation etc. This can reduce the risk of bitcoiners being criminalized, reduce government uncertainty, lower tax burdens or more.
In some cases, there are politicians who have an ax to grind with Bitcoin or Crypto, like Elizabeth Warren with her “Anti Crypto Army”. In these cases, perhaps a more combative approach should be taken when the public supports a pro-Bitcoin candidate instead of an anti-Bitcoin politician.
But what about cypherpunks writing code and existing in crypto-anarchy?
The late Hal Finney, a Bitcoin and cryptography legend, was also a liberal and even posted the following in a mailing list discussion (shout out to Aaron van Wirdum for bringing this up in the Book of Genesis):
“I’m not in cyberspace now; I’m in California. I am governed by the laws of California and the United States even if I communicate with another person, whether by mail or email, by telephone or over a TCP/IP connection. What does it mean to talk about government on the Internet? It is the local government that I fear. Its agents carry realistic guns that shoot real bullets. Until I can sit at my computer and eat electrons, I don’t see the value of cyberspace.”
It was not that he was against philosophy and freedom or crypto-anarchy, that he saw the limitations of the real world for what they were and are not.
But wouldn’t it be great if everyone got along? Kumbaya?
Yes, there is the common sense of “Wouldn’t it be nice” or “what if we all respected each other’s rights and ignored the state” – but the truth is that “people will not just show up”. They see a system that enables them to steal from other people or control other people, and they will take advantage of it. This can manifest in simple ways when politicians promise “free stuff” or to protect you from the boogeyman by exchanging power. Given that most voters in democracies are not taxpayers in the system, of course they won’t think long term. They will not think about the risk taken, or the effort to raise money and build a business. For these selfish voters, they will just take whatever they can get here and now, and not think about the future.
Is Bitcoin Not Fixing This?
Won’t Bitcoin fix some of these things? Yes, it is true that the state uses cheap fiat credit and money controls to expand itself. Of course it is true that the state undermines competing independent forms of governance, such as family, community, religious and even charitable organizations – to position itself as a powerful form of government that people rely on.
As part of this process, many things are politicized, and this has happened for most of our lives. There used to be unwritten rules about not talking about politics during the day, or in a decent public place. That sense of decorum is gone, and today we all put up with talk about the latest ‘Current Thing’ even at non-political events.
Even in a hyperbitcoinized world, there will still be family politics around things like family business, or inheritance battles or divorce battles. Even if we have a monarchy and a free independent city government, there can still be politics involved. The advantage may be that it is easy to opt out of, and everyday people are not forced to participate. So yes in the long run, Bitcoin will reduce but not eliminate politics. But don’t confuse this world now, with that world later.
If you think so much can be achieved in politics, why have Bitcoin or code at all?
There is a division of labor here. Bitcoin and cryptography are very important. But my point is that those people who are good at party politics should focus on that, and those people who are good at writing and reviewing code should focus on that.
Making the political system less adversarial helps those people who write the code, and it helps the everyday HODLers who own their keys and use their node. After all, if Bitcoin and Bitcoin application code are improved, that would make it technically easier for people to use Bitcoin. In a broad political sense, codification reduces conflict by further reducing the cost of monetary protection. It helps many people HODL and spend their coins as they wish.
To sum it all up
Yes, it would be nice if a few people used the state to steal from each other, or control each other, but the way to get there doesn’t mean you have to just kneel down and take a beating from the other side. Of course it would be nice if we ignored these things, but that is wishful thinking. Even if you personally don’t have the proverbial ‘stomach’ to wade into the swamp of pro-Bitcoin political activists, the least you can do is not poo-poo the efforts of those with your stomach. Likewise, people who can’t do party politics or political activism should not discourage the efforts of those who write and update the codes to develop Bitcoin.
Below, don’t confuse the community you want, and how to get there.
This is a guest post by Stephan Livera. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.