If an election one day comes where an “orange party” is on the ballot, they will not have my vote. The beauty of Bitcoin is that it does not need a formal political party in order to enact change. It will continue to consume monetary energy on its way to becoming the global standard regardless of whether laws are passed to accelerate that adoption. In fact, its ideals reject the entire centralized premise that a political party represents. Bitcoin grows not through legislated forced adoption, but spontaneously by free minds making the choice that is best for themselves, their family and their future. Growing in this decentralized manner makes the Bitcoin network more robust since it removes any singular point of failure and ensures bitcoin continues to hold true to its claim as a decentralized currency.
Having politicians that promote Bitcoin and write legislation to protect the rights of bitcoin holders is a great thing, but a formal political party centered around Bitcoin would cross a bridge too far. Any Bitcoin political party would be organized around the goal of moving the United States to a bitcoin standard. I love the idea of a bitcoin standard. I want a bitcoin standard. But this is not the way to get a bitcoin standard. A move to a bitcoin standard through centralized and coercive means would risk compromising this entire movement. The second it is done through force, we stoop to the level of the central banks we are trying to eradicate. We can only achieve a bitcoin standard when the time is right, and the time will only be right when it is achieved organically.
I already vote for the Bitcoin Party, and so do you, each and every time we stack sats. Bitcoin is both political and apolitical. It rejects modern politics and partisanship but, at the same time, can be seen as a political ideology in itself that values free markets, individual rights, private property and voluntary community. We already are a political party; we just aren't labeled as one. If a politician that promotes Bitcoin is truly one of us, then their allegiance to Bitcoin supersedes the R or D next to their name. Bitcoin transcends traditional partisan politics and is instead a global decentralized movement for liberty, self-sovereignty and sustainability.
In many ways the future is binary: either we preserve voluntary cooperation or succumb to involuntary collectivism. The next fight Bitcoiners must prepare themselves for to prevent the latter from becoming reality is the rollout of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). While bitcoin is the champion of voluntary cooperation, CBDCs represent the champion of involuntary collectivism.
CBDCs are perhaps the greatest totalitarian tool ever created with the ability to censor purchases of items the government does not approve, to easily implement inflationary monetary policy that widens economic inequality, to collect vast amounts of data on the everyday lives of citizens, to instill systems that score social credit, and to expand the regulatory state. If any of those scare you, good, because they represent the direct opposite of everything you bought into when you purchased bitcoin.
However, it is imperative we do not give into these fears by organizing into a political party that strengthens Bitcoin through legislative force. Instead, we must continue to promote Bitcoin solely in a manner that aligns with the reason we were drawn to the technology in the first place: noncoercive, transparent and decentralized. All we can do is point nocoiners in the right direction and after some research of their own, I am confident they will come to the same conclusion as us: Bitcoin is the soundest money ever designed that will become a necessity for those who seek to protect their wealth and civil liberties.
Where a person stands on the left–right political spectrum will matter far less than the side they choose in the battle between bitcoin’s liberty and fiat’s dependence. Either a currency promoting freedom and peace wins out or authoritarian CBDCs ensure the dystopian novels that scare so many come true. Henry Ford famously said that “it is well enough that people of our nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Bitcoin educated me on the woes of our current monetary system and it will only continue to educate more as people choose financial freedom over financial serfdom. The revolution will not be happening tomorrow morning nor the next, but it will take place over the coming years and decades as the patience to let Bitcoin grow organically pays off. The Bitcoin community must continue to educate others on Bitcoin and its virtues, but we must do so in a manner absent of force and coercion.
This is a guest post by Jack Kriesel. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.