When I was younger I naturally accepted that it was good for people to be equal. This was based on my Christian schooling, and the hyper-sensitivity to inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.
As I got older, studied economics, and started voting, I became frustrated with the dominant guilt-driven redistribution narrative since the associated policies were obviously ineffective. I wanted others to be better off than they were, but realised this couldn't be done just by penalizing the wealthy and productive. I started reading more libertarian materials, and associating more online with self-declared libertarians. However, many struck me as callous - it wasn't enough for them to argue that freedom could lead to more prosperity, they wanted freedom for the sake of getting rewarded for their own claimed superiority. They had the attitude that most poor people were deserving because they were dumb or didn't work hard enough. Note that I say "some" of these libertarians only.
This made me an uncomfortable libertarian. I couldn't deny the logic and ultimate moral clarity, but found many fellow travellers disdainful.
Bitcoin and open source gives me hope though. The ideas of capitalistic freedom interact with the ideas of shared resources and goals, without any conflict. I can advocate that a person who works hard and creates value should keep their profits and save it, but also promote the use of free tools, and advocate for helping dissidents and poorer communities. While these concepts have never been theoretically incompatible, I have found bitcoiners to be the community that embodies all of them.
Even my boyhood self could have been attracted to this, which makes me so bullish on this movement even if we remain at $58K forever.
gunson / Gunson
npub1pn…t2xn0
2024-09-01 10:13:49
Author Public Key
npub1pn9xyqt934wesguuz5g77sp9vtlh6ujyd7eqr2x3s47rncmfe8aqxt2xn0Published at
2024-09-01 10:13:49Event JSON
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"content": "When I was younger I naturally accepted that it was good for people to be equal. This was based on my Christian schooling, and the hyper-sensitivity to inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.\n\nAs I got older, studied economics, and started voting, I became frustrated with the dominant guilt-driven redistribution narrative since the associated policies were obviously ineffective. I wanted others to be better off than they were, but realised this couldn't be done just by penalizing the wealthy and productive. I started reading more libertarian materials, and associating more online with self-declared libertarians. However, many struck me as callous - it wasn't enough for them to argue that freedom could lead to more prosperity, they wanted freedom for the sake of getting rewarded for their own claimed superiority. They had the attitude that most poor people were deserving because they were dumb or didn't work hard enough. Note that I say \"some\" of these libertarians only.\n\nThis made me an uncomfortable libertarian. I couldn't deny the logic and ultimate moral clarity, but found many fellow travellers disdainful.\n\nBitcoin and open source gives me hope though. The ideas of capitalistic freedom interact with the ideas of shared resources and goals, without any conflict. I can advocate that a person who works hard and creates value should keep their profits and save it, but also promote the use of free tools, and advocate for helping dissidents and poorer communities. While these concepts have never been theoretically incompatible, I have found bitcoiners to be the community that embodies all of them.\n\nEven my boyhood self could have been attracted to this, which makes me so bullish on this movement even if we remain at $58K forever.",
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