I’ve been reading Gordon Wood’s “The Idea of America” https://www.amazon.com/Idea-America-Reflections-United-States/dp/0143121243. One of the central theses is that America was one of the freest places on earth when we decided to revolt against the King. There was no specific crime that the King had committed. The revolt was existential, in essence. The gripes were philosophical. America had been started by settlers who left the UK because of grievances related to their ability to worship. They established colonies at the threat of death, braved winters, attacks from Indians, and more. Their goal was to be far away from the crown so they could do as they pleased. When the King began to impose rules and laws, this ran afoul of the established identity of the settlers here.
The text strikes me lately as I consider the future with Bitcoin. America, today, is regarded as one of the freest places on earth. Even still, many of us believe that the rules and laws imposed by the government, the allowance of civil asset forfeiture, the state’s control of money and our trade habits, and the state’s willingness to turn its power on its citizens run afoul of our beliefs in what freedom means. I think that freedom needs bumpers. But those bumpers are poorly imposed by men who are voted into power by those whom can be paid for their vote.
Unlike the American revolution, the Bitcoin revolution is a bloodless, slow coup. And, it strikes me that Bitcoin can only be developed and understood by Americans with an understanding of frhabits I’ve come to believe that non-Americans can never understand what freedom actually means. We can not move so fast that the world changes tomorrow. But we can not move so slowly that Bitcoin dies.
I look forward to the journey with all of you.
greenplantgreyskies / 🌿☁️
npub1y7…2qt86
2023-02-23 00:51:58
in reply to nevent1q…sr5q
Author Public Key
npub1y7ah0ee2dn0pqm8ul6esscezzw6qlde3tf6vdlvdthh0grd0zmgqf2qt86Published at
2023-02-23 00:51:58Event JSON
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"created_at": 1677113518,
"kind": 1,
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"content": "I’ve been reading Gordon Wood’s “The Idea of America” https://www.amazon.com/Idea-America-Reflections-United-States/dp/0143121243. One of the central theses is that America was one of the freest places on earth when we decided to revolt against the King. There was no specific crime that the King had committed. The revolt was existential, in essence. The gripes were philosophical. America had been started by settlers who left the UK because of grievances related to their ability to worship. They established colonies at the threat of death, braved winters, attacks from Indians, and more. Their goal was to be far away from the crown so they could do as they pleased. When the King began to impose rules and laws, this ran afoul of the established identity of the settlers here.\n\nThe text strikes me lately as I consider the future with Bitcoin. America, today, is regarded as one of the freest places on earth. Even still, many of us believe that the rules and laws imposed by the government, the allowance of civil asset forfeiture, the state’s control of money and our trade habits, and the state’s willingness to turn its power on its citizens run afoul of our beliefs in what freedom means. I think that freedom needs bumpers. But those bumpers are poorly imposed by men who are voted into power by those whom can be paid for their vote.\n\nUnlike the American revolution, the Bitcoin revolution is a bloodless, slow coup. And, it strikes me that Bitcoin can only be developed and understood by Americans with an understanding of frhabits I’ve come to believe that non-Americans can never understand what freedom actually means. We can not move so fast that the world changes tomorrow. But we can not move so slowly that Bitcoin dies.\n\nI look forward to the journey with all of you.",
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