A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin with Jason Maier - WBD539

Jason Maier is a teacher and progressive Bitcoiner. In this
interview, we discuss his inspiration for writing a book setting
out his case, as a progressive, for Bitcoin. The public narrative
and FUD around Bitcoin are antithetical to progressives, yet, its
utility is aligned with progressive ideals.


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Bitcoin should be a broad church. The original cypherpunks
philosophy was predicated on anarchist ideals, to work outside of
government controls. This attitude is analogous to a wide variety
of political philosophies, including those on the left who feel
disenfranchised by the current global capitalist hegemony. And
yet, Bitcoin has historically been viewed as being antithetical
to progressives.


The mainstream narrative is that Bitcoiners are predominantly
libertarian, with explicit views on the need to reduce the size
of the state, the coercive nature of taxation, and the importance
of self-reliance. In addition, there is significant criticism
about the environmental harm being done by Bitcoin mining through
its energy demands. Given our polarised society, it’s not
surprising that progressives are immediately turned off.


And yet, there has been a marked increase in the number of
progressive voices entering the community over the past few
years. These people have risen to prominence given their
impassioned and articulate advocacy for Bitcoin. It is a new wave
of orange-pilled adoption that has identified broad utility that
is aligned to, rather than being at odds with, progressive
ideals.


Whether it’s that Bitcoin is providing sovereignty and security
to marginalized communities, that Bitcoin acts as a constraint to
unfettered government economic power, or that Bitcoin is actually
enabling market-driven solutions to environmental issues - there
are many obvious fact-based reasons why progressives should be
enthused by the application of Satoshi’s innovation.


The reason why the increase in left-leaning adoption hasn’t
turned into a flood is in part due to education. There are a
limited number of resources available to those starting on their
Bitcoin journey. This is where people like Jason Maier hope to
make a difference. Material written by a progressive will provide
an authentic message specifically tailored to this audience.


This should be exciting for all Bitcoiners. If Bitcoin is to
become global money we need as wide an audience as possible to
see value in it.