Sound Money

Bitcoin is the political vehicle I choose to represent my political, economic and social views.

Represents core principles

Like any political party, bitcoin doesn’t necessarily perfectly represent my views, but it encapsulates my core political principles and it represents them in a way that no political party is brave enough to.

A life raft, not the other shore

Like any political party, it is not the answer in of itself. I think of bitcoin as the life raft that may carry us to the other side of these turbulent seas. But the raft is not the other shore itself, its not the destination. I could change rafts in the future. I could change party allegiance. But bitcoin is robust enough to make me confident in the maintenance of its core political principles for many years to come.

Community isn’t perfect

Like any political party, there are elements within the community that I disagree with, which don’t represent me. Some people are anarchists, some direct hate towards those that disagree with them and some are carnivores. These don’t represent my views, but everyone is entitled to their opinion and I don’t believe that the views of a vocal minority dominate the outcome. The principles that bind us together are more powerful than those that divide us.

What are these principles?

Sound money, financial truth and ethical finance where money cannot be created at a whim by politicians and financial elites to distribute political favours at the expense of the man on the street. Sound money will create a solid foundation for a society of integrity with fairer interaction and outcomes. Bitcoin is a money based on proof of work, encouraging individuals to save value, invest in their future and delay gratification. These sound money principles will create a society that is focused on long-term sustainable value that will protect our environment (physical, relational and spiritual). This is in stark contrast to our debt-based monies of today, which encourage leverage, short-term thinking and consumption with very little consideration of the consequences. Bitcoin is a network censorship resistant money that promotes financial inclusion as opposed to our centralised and regulated money which excludes many from participation.

I could expand further but bitcoin’s principles are actually limited in number. Users are free to interact with the technology as they see fit and act as they please. I’ve just described the types of human action promoted by bitcoin’s principles. As adoption grows, these principles seep out into the individuals, family, companies and communities that adopt bitcoin. My anecdotal evidence bears this out. All the bitcoin communities I interact with have a wide diversity of people. I cannot vouch for each and every one of them. We disagree on many fronts. But, on the whole, bitcoiners are freedom loving, caring, interested and respectable people who are concerned with the corruption of their money. Generally, they buy into the principles I’ve outlined.

I believe in sound money to such an extent that I’m willing to stake my reputation in advocacy of this movement. Never have I felt this way about a political party in South Africa (where I’m from), the UK (where my family is from) or the US (where I live). I have always taken an interest in politics but almost never given support to a party. Why?

Because the principles advocated by large centralised political organisations are never clear nor consistently applied. In fact, these parties are very rarely constituted on principles alone. Decision making is susceptible to the whims of a leader, government officials or the latest public opinion. This is not a robust political process and the outcomes produces bear this out.

Bitcoin has no leader and its almost impervious to public opinion. Bitcoin could only structurally change its principles if a decisive majority of bitcoiners flipped on their principles, which is increasingly. Each new entrant into bitcoin adopts the principles, entrenching rather than challenging them.

I know many investors would discourage blurring of the lines between investments, business and politics but I genuinely believe that bitcoin advocacy is the best usage of our political energies. Sound money is what we need – everything else is noise. I don’t care about the ANC or DA. I don’t care about Democrats or Republicans. I don’t care about Conservatives or Labour. I care about sound money. Until such time as politicians wake up and repeal our unsound monetary system, bitcoin remains my political vehicle.

*Image from http://www.audiofront.com