4 ms·

That is a minor detail. It will not stop the government from cultivating a sense of fear and dependence, and then passing laws to make us safe -- which coincide

That is a minor detail. It will not stop the government from cultivating a sense of fear and dependence, and then passing laws to make us safe -- which coincidentally happen to remove our freedom and increase government power. It doesn't matter whether you use bitcoin; it can jump up and take your money away. Your children might invest in bitcoin because of peer pressure. If bitcoin falls, it will take your bank with it and it will cause a drought and your crops will fail because everything is globally interconnected now. "Online banking" is a euphemism for speculating in digital currency. If the price of your house falls by more than 20% then you automatically get evicted -- ...Oh, oops, this was about bitcoin. Oh well, doesn't matter. Just as long as you're afraid enough that you turn in all of your freedom.

panarky 13y ago
Is it really just Big Government and tyrannical rulers, grabbing power for the sake of power? Or is it about using the state to protect the entrenched interests, the rentiers, the oligarchs, from anything that would alter the status quo?
- orclev 13y ago
  They're largely one and the same, so both apply.
- jeffdavis 13y ago
  The state is not doing the bidding of entrenched interests. The state is just more comfortable with the status quo, and the entrenched interests take advantage of that. When ascending in power, people are ambitious, and willing to stir things up. As soon as they reach a powerful position and don't think they will make it much further, they get lazy. They can still make and break businesses if they really wanted to, and they could get new revenue streams (campaign contributions, nepotism, etc.). But they are comfortable and lazy, so they won't. When speaking with politicians, I doubt businesses make many demands. Politicians have expected contribution levels, etc., which are essentially demands. But I doubt businesses want make a demand, for fear that the politician will feel threatened and cease being lazy. Instead, businesses feed on the laziness of politicians by offering to do all kinds of things like studies and research and authoring large portions of bills.
smacktoward 13y ago
Yeesh. It's a little silly to extrapolate from the headline-grabbing efforts of a single senator to a shadowy, evil-intentioned plot by the entirety of the government to Steal Your Freedom.
- logfromblammo 13y ago
  Sadly, it's actually an interpolation between the headline and everything else that has ever happened anywhere. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail; when all you have is political leverage, everything looks like a fulcrum. There is no issue so unimportant that some two-bit con artist on this planet won't try to use it to accomplish his own goals. Really, the best thing to do is to ignore them, then ridicule them, then fight them, until at last they go away forever. Hang on a tick; something seems awfully familiar about that strategy...
- politician 13y ago
  What the parent is suggesting doesn't require a "shadowy, evil-intentioned plot by the entirety of the government." It only requires efforts by people who like to consolidate power to consolidate power. The consolidators need not even communicate. See also: ant food gathering behaviors, termite mound building.

panarky 13y ago

Is it really just Big Government and tyrannical rulers, grabbing power for the sake of power? Or is it about using the state to protect the entrenched interests, the rentiers, the oligarchs, from anything that would alter the status quo?

orclev 13y ago
They're largely one and the same, so both apply.
jeffdavis 13y ago
The state is not doing the bidding of entrenched interests. The state is just more comfortable with the status quo, and the entrenched interests take advantage of that. When ascending in power, people are ambitious, and willing to stir things up. As soon as they reach a powerful position and don't think they will make it much further, they get lazy. They can still make and break businesses if they really wanted to, and they could get new revenue streams (campaign contributions, nepotism, etc.). But they are comfortable and lazy, so they won't. When speaking with politicians, I doubt businesses make many demands. Politicians have expected contribution levels, etc., which are essentially demands. But I doubt businesses want make a demand, for fear that the politician will feel threatened and cease being lazy. Instead, businesses feed on the laziness of politicians by offering to do all kinds of things like studies and research and authoring large portions of bills.

smacktoward 13y ago

Yeesh. It's a little silly to extrapolate from the headline-grabbing efforts of a single senator to a shadowy, evil-intentioned plot by the entirety of the government to Steal Your Freedom.

logfromblammo 13y ago
Sadly, it's actually an interpolation between the headline and everything else that has ever happened anywhere. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail; when all you have is political leverage, everything looks like a fulcrum. There is no issue so unimportant that some two-bit con artist on this planet won't try to use it to accomplish his own goals. Really, the best thing to do is to ignore them, then ridicule them, then fight them, until at last they go away forever. Hang on a tick; something seems awfully familiar about that strategy...
politician 13y ago
What the parent is suggesting doesn't require a "shadowy, evil-intentioned plot by the entirety of the government." It only requires efforts by people who like to consolidate power to consolidate power. The consolidators need not even communicate. See also: ant food gathering behaviors, termite mound building.