I, like many of you, are considering the results of the recent US election in which Donald Trump handily won both the electoral college and the popular vote. As pundits discuss, leftist media outlets mourn, and yes many Trump supporters rejoice, as a progressive Bitcoiner it is crystal clear to me: If the Democratic Party wants a future in America, it must embrace Bitcoin.
Let me explain what I mean. Not only do I think it is important for the party to accept Bitcoin if it wants to survive, but after this decisive victory of Trump, I think that many in the party, and those independent voters who go in and out of voting for democratic candidates, want to make a big change and go back to the drawing board.
Bernie is back, and he has something to say.
It should come as no surprise that the Democratic Party that abandoned the working class will find that the working class has abandoned them.
While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and demanding change.
And they are right. pic.twitter.com/lM2gSJmQFL
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 6, 2024
Now that Biden’s time is drawing to a close, and Harris has conceded that the race is lost, Bernie is not holding back on his criticism of the Democratic party and its priorities. “It should come as no surprise that the Democratic Party, which abandoned the working class, has found that the working class has abandoned them.” Many in the party, as well as former Bernie supporters who may no longer be in the party or no longer support it, have been beating this drum for some time: Democrats love the coast, talk about progressive politics and “wokism” intellectually, while paying lip-service (and supporting other minority groups) to the American people. of the working class. After losing to Donald Trump twice, many democrats, progressives, and certainly independent and democratic American voters are asking themselves, where do we go from here?
Trump is a tour de force. A charismatic figure who truly changed the course of American politics in ways the GOP, strategists, journalists, and the political establishment never thought possible. The democratic party has been struggling to come up with answers against Trump and MAGA populism after 2016. While the mainstream media may continue to dismiss his victory as a product of racism, sexism, or other beliefs steeped in identity politics, they did the same in 2016. , many within the party accept that the tactics of identity politics, anti-Trumpism, and other high moral principles are not working at all.
While we will all be analyzing data, voter profiles, trends, etc. for the next few months, many journalists, including influential progressive media outlets including iPod Save America, Breaking Points, and beyond have agreed that the Democratic Party must return to existence. the working class is also focused on the economy and inflation, which is one of the most important issues for voters in this year’s election. The Democratic Party’s time since 2016-now has been heavily focused on identity politics, what many see as “wokism” and the like, which I can’t quite dismiss. Most of these are important. But, the weight and priority of these problems over the economy and other difficulties faced by the American people has been a story. Many democrats and progressives knew this, but now we have the data and election results to prove that it is not a winning strategy for the party, especially in a presidential election.
Being a progressive and a Bitcoiner is a unique situation to be in, and it has helped me to analyze the world and predict certain trends and results in interesting ways that often repeat bitcoiners, or those who develop outside of the bitcoin bubble, miss. In fact, I am not alone. Many of the progressives and left-leaning people in the bitcoin space were former Bernie brothers, inspired by Occupy Wall Street and other populist economic messages about wealth inequality, corporate capture in America, Central Bank bailouts and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Many of us have been turned off by the party’s pivot away from these battles, until Senator Elizabeth Warren is working with and heavily funded by the Big Banks, not to mention her and many others who are very hostile to the revolutionary technologies that were born. after the Global Financial Crisis: Bitcoin.
Here’s my take: Not only do Democrats have to embrace Bitcoin to have a political future in America—I think many current and former members would be more open to it. Rep. Ro Khanna is one prime example of a progressive Democrat who understands where the Democratic Party has been losing to Republicans on economic issues and Bitcoin. At a Bitcoin conference in Nashville this past summer, Rep Khanna said, “Arguing Bitcoin is like arguing a cell phone or a laptop, or semi conductors, it’s technology.” Bitcoin is for freedom.”
Bitcoin and campaign finance activists have played a major role in this year’s presidential election. Although most Democrats and the Harris campaign chose to ignore Bitcoin and the industry, with some neutral or vague support for the technology mentioned here and there, after four brutal years under the Biden administration, this seems to be a mistake they could not afford. to do. Many progressives and democrats may continue to speak out against the industry and campaign financing and the superpacs that bring in Big Crypto Money (which is campaign financing and bitcoin technology are two different things), but it is an issue that can no longer be ignored, and almost every week seems to be growing more and more bi-partisan (including Bitcoin ownership in America, which is shown to be exceptionally broad and diverse across the political spectrum from a recent survey by Colin Brown, Troy Cross, and Andrew Perkins).
Donald Trump and the GOP have used and gained crypto single voters in big ways. Campaign promises include protecting the right to self-preservation, the US Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, supporting the crypto and bitcoin mining industries, Free Ross, and more. We’ll see if he delivers on these promises, and it’s not clear how much of an impact Trump’s pro-crypto positions had on the outcome of the election, but it’s not insignificant. And if anything, it symbolized what we saw was very important to the American electorate- a big change in the current administration, and big promises about the economy and economic prosperity in America.
As Democrats go back to the drawing board to determine the party’s future and priorities, many are ready to do big things, unburdened by what has been (sorry, should have been) done by the Hilary, Biden, Harris neo-liberal coalitions. And there’s one good place to start—the economy, stupid! Affordability, inflation, and the prospect of a bright economic future for the middle class and working families are winning priorities and that’s what the American people at the end of the day are voting for. Bitcoin has an important role to play in this messaging, as an inflation hedge, an amazing money-saving technology for working families, audit-resistant payments (should progressive activists find themselves in a position to demand money to oppose Donald Trump’s government policies), and beyond. If the Democrats are willing to return to some of their roots as a group of working class people, including an olive branch for independents and Bernie supporters who want to fight for financial freedom and a better life for American workers, Occupy, and beyond, they will find Bitcoin an incredible tool for that. With Bitcoin there is no barrier to ownership, no middleman, not a merchant or bank you have to use or be “authorized” by.
No permission, freedom money. Could this be the cry for the next chapter of the progressive movement and for Democrats to use on the campaign trail? It almost seems inevitable…when, not if…when the Democratic Party gives in to Bitcoin and the demands of the American people, or face extinction. Myself, Margot Paez, and others from The Progressive Bitcoiner will certainly be here to represent the rebirth of the progressive movement, funded by Bitcoin.
This guest post is by Trey Walsh. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.