Freedom doesn’t ask permission

Today is Independence Day in the United States, a day to celebrate our freedom from the British Empire and the tyranny of bureaucracy that rules our lives over thousands of miles of ocean. The Revolutionary War that brought us that freedom did not happen overnight, nor was it triggered by a single event or circumstance in the short term. It was the result of a century of tyrannical government influence on the colonists living in North America.

Likewise, Bitcoin was not born from a single event, the Great Financial Crisis. Just as America was born from colonists who suffered from more than a century of tax increases, excessive regulation, and general exploitation, Bitcoin was born from decades of parasitic economic and financial activity.

While America and the struggles that led to its birth were rooted in bureaucracies cut off by physical distance, Bitcoin was born from a problem rooted in a more existential disconnection than a physical one. In the same way that the British monarch and his advisers had a cut-off and impersonal view of the humans across the Atlantic, today’s bureaucrats have a cut-off and mechanistic view of the humans they govern, despite the absence of physical distance.

Politicians, regulators, bureaucrats, financial executives, none of them see the people they govern or the people who make the decisions that dramatically change the course of their lives or circumstances as real people. They see numbers, statistics, stereotypes and generalizations. They see impersonal figures and patterns that seem to fit someone at first glance, and they make decisions based on that.

They have no empathy, no understanding of the problems that arise from personal circumstances, life situations, or automated decision-making in Congress, the SEC building, or the banks.

So why do we look to these people for approval, or for a path to success, or for a glimmer of hope that they will achieve that understanding? Imagine that ten years after America gained independence, it asked Britain for help in achieving success. Would that seem reasonable to you? Would that seem like a fruitful path to success and prosperity?

The answer should definitely be no. They don’t care about you, me, or any of us.

So why do so many Bitcoin users seek salvation from these parasites and narcissists? This shows that Bitcoin has completely lost sight of its purpose, its storyline. In some ways, it is very similar to the current state of the United States, which has lost its way and disconnected from its original purpose and ideals: freedom, self-determination, and justice.

These people are not here to help us, they are not here to make Bitcoin a beacon of personal freedom and liberty. They are here to exploit, to subvert, to maintain their place in the world. They can be in a position of security and luxury for themselves while being coldly disconnected from us.

America was founded because they realized that Britain 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 revolutionary, something the world had never seen before.

Bitcoin is no different, but rather than sticking to those principles and ideals, Bitcoin supporters seem content to return to the UK for permission to self-determination. Permission to gain freedom.

This is a mistake. Bitcoin was created to be something new, independent and innovative, something the world has never seen before. It was created to stand on its own as a foundation for sovereignty and self-determination. It is not something that we have to ask permission to own, build or use.

We need to stick to it and not beg politicians and regulators for an easy path to “success.” In fact, it’s simply failure wrapped in a blanket of coping. Bitcoin is here. It was put there without asking permission, without begging the king for permission, and it’s here to stay.

Whether we succeed or fail depends not on politicians, regulators or Wall Street money, but on us.

Happy Independence Day to those who still seek their own decisions instead of permission.