Today is America’s Independence Day, a celebration of our freedom from the British Empire and the tyranny of a bureaucracy that is thousands of miles of ocean removed from our lives. The Revolutionary War that won us that freedom was not something that happened overnight, or something that came about through a single, short-term event or circumstance. It was the result of more than a century of overbearing government influence over the colonists who lived in North America.
Likewise, Bitcoin was not born from the one-time event of the Great Financial Crisis. Just as colonists who endured over a century of rising taxes, over-regulation, and general exploitation gave birth to the United States, decades of parasitic economic and financial actions gave birth to Bitcoin.
While America and the struggles that led to its creation were rooted in a bureaucracy that was disconnected by physical distance, Bitcoin was born out of problems that were rooted in a more existential disconnection rather than one of physical space. In the same way that the king and his advisors in England had a disconnected and impersonal view of the people across the Atlantic, today’s bureaucrats have a disconnected and mechanistic view of the people they rule over, despite the lack of physical distance.
Politicians, regulators, bureaucrats, financial managers, none of them see the people they rule over, or who make decisions that drastically change the course of their lives or circumstances, as real people. They see numbers, they see statistics, they see stereotypes and generalizations. They see impersonal figures and patterns that someone seems to fit into at a glance, and they make decisions based on that.
They have no empathy, they don’t understand an individual’s personal circumstances, or their life situation, or the problems they face as a result of automated decision-making in Congress, the SEC building, or a bank.
Why then do we look to these people for approval, or a path to success, or a glimmer of hope that they will achieve that understanding? Imagine if America had gone back to England ten years after achieving its independence for help in achieving its success. Does that seem rational to you? Does that seem like a fruitful path to achieving success and prosperity?
The answer should be a resounding no. They don’t care about you, or me, or any of us.
So why do so many Bitcoiners look to these parasites and narcissists for salvation? It is a sign that they have completely lost the plot, the purpose for which Bitcoin was created. In a way, it is very similar to the current state of America as a nation, lost and disconnected from the purpose and ideals upon which it was originally founded. Freedom, self-determination, justice.
These people are not here to help us, they are not here to turn Bitcoin into a beacon of individual freedom and independence. They are here to exploit, to undermine, to maintain the position they hold in the world, where they can remain callously disconnected from the rest of us in a position of safety and luxury for themselves.
America was founded specifically because of the realization that England would not give them self-determination or freedom. The founding fathers realized that, and so they set out to achieve it on their own terms, by building something new, something innovative that the world had never seen before.
Bitcoin is no different, but instead of adhering to those principles and ideals, Bitcoiners seem content to run back to England for permission to self-determine. To ask permission to achieve their freedom.
This is a mistake. Bitcoin was created to be that new, independent, innovative thing that the world has never seen before. It was built to stand alone as a foundation of sovereignty and self-determination. Not something we ask permission to have, to build on, to use.
We need to stick to that, not beg politicians and regulators for an easy path to “success” that is really just failure wrapped in a blanket of cope. Bitcoin is here, it was put here without asking permission, without begging the king to let it, and here it will stay.
Whether it succeeds or fails does not depend on politicians, regulators or Wall Street money. It depends on us.
Happy 4th of July to those who still pursue self-determination instead of consent.