Pup's Double-Takes #003:

"Bitcoiners: Driven, Not Despondent"

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Pup's Double-Takes, where I dive into the things that made me stop and say, 'Wait, what?' My goal is to unpack the curious and confusing, making it educational and, hopefully, a little entertaining along the way.

 

 

 

PDT-003: "Bitcoiners: Driven, Not Despondent"

 

Recently, I watched a video where Bernie Sanders, a figure I once avidly supported, dismissed Bitcoiners as "despondent" and "checked out." As a former "Bernie Bro" who transitioned into the world of Bitcoin, this hit close to home. Sanders' remarks reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of why so many of his supporters moved toward Bitcoin. The shift was not about despair; it was about finding a credible alternative when we realized the system couldn’t be fixed from within.

 

Many of us who supported Bernie saw a system riddled with inequalities and limitations and believed he could change it. For a time, he represented hope for real reform. But as I grew deeper in understanding the system, I realized the change we sought couldn't come from working within its confines. I, like many others, began searching for an outside solution, and that's where Bitcoin came into play—a decentralized, parallel system that was created in response to the flaws in the current system.

 

To call Bitcoiners "checked out" is to miss the truth about who we are and what we believe. Bitcoiners are some of the most engaged people I know—engaged in reimagining the future and fostering a fairer world. Far from giving up, Bitcoiners have opted out because they are determined to help build on a system grounded in freedom and equality.

 

In a recent discussion, I shared this perspective. When I mentioned Bernie’s comment, the response I received echoed the common refrain: "You can only fix the system from within." I understood where they were coming from—I'd been there myself. I supported supported more extreme redistributionist policies favored by the far-left because I believed they were the only way to counterbalance the system’s inherent inequities.

 

However, over time, I recognized that these policy proposals were merely patches on a system fundamentally misaligned fairness and property rights. I saw that the deeper issue wasn't policy but the structure of the system itself. A truly equitable system doesn’t need constant intervention to make things "fair"; it operates on an entirely different set of principles, ones that Bitcoin embodies.

 

I am not despondent. I see myself as someone who found a new avenue—a "sly, roundabout way" of achieving the values I once hoped Bernie could bring to fruition, not via policy, but by separating money and state. Today, I channel my energy into Bitcoin, not because I've lost hope, but because I believe Bitcoin is our greatest hope for a better world.

 

For Bernie and others deeply invested in the existing system, it’s difficult to grasp why people like us would look to Bitcoin for answers. Bernie’s perspective aligns closely with what Jesse Meyers describes in a fantastic article as the mindset of the "Yuppie Elite"—those who believe so firmly in the system’s framework that they dismiss alternatives outside of it. For them, solutions are only valid if they work within the current structures. But for Bitcoiners, who recognize the limitations of these structures, stepping outside the system isn’t about despair; it’s about building something better.

 

 

 

 

Digging Deeper:

 

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...Woof!