Bitcoin Forum

I've been wondering about this for awhile. Bitcoin is often marketed as a project backed by the enthusiasm of its libertarian supporters, but the more I talk to people on the streets and read posts from members of this forum and reddit, I get the impression that many bitcoiners are liberals?

This doesn't really make sense to me, given that liberals tend to prefer larger government and taxation. What is the political breakdown of this forum, and if liberal, can you help me explain why you support bitcoin?

I am a small 'l' liberal.  That doesn't mean I am not concerned about 'bail in' and what happened in Cypress.  

Don't confuse a desire to help out poor people even if it means higher taxes (I earn enough to make a contribution to others) with a tolerance for bad governance.  

For me bitcoins are part of a diversified portfolio. I don't believe it will replace fiat but I have no intention of being caught out if it does (I have been wrong before).

More importantly, technology is politically agnostic.  It may have come from the crypto anarchist movement but I think we all recognise that this is potentially bigger than what has traditionally been a very small subset of society. (I had never heard of crypto anarchy until I learn about Bitcoin).

No "anarchist" option? I support bitcoin because it's truly free. Transparency, potential for anonymity, no central authority, no coercion. Maybe most importantly, it's interesting. Modern central-bank fiat is interesting too, if you actually learn how it works, but interesting in a depressing/infuriating way. Bitcoin is the opposite.

The poll could have been a bit more refined. We all know that the vast majority of the Bitcoiners are libertarians. So dividing Libertarians further would have been a good idea. Some new options could have been added, such as Anarcho-Libertarians.  ;D

What about crypto cypher punk anarcho liberalifundies?

Just use the poll as it is sheesh.

MFW liberals and conservatives are neck to neck :)

LOL

i'm definitely not conservative.. i like some liberal things as well as libertarian, but i can't really say that i would identify with one group over the other. both have drawbacks to me..

So 11 for tyranny and 17 against right now...

Libertarian Socialism is considered Anarchism, so vote Libertarian instead.

I burst out laughing at your extremely simplified poll :D Also, are you talking about real liberals? Or the fake ones made up by neo-conservative propaganda?

Here's where I stand as 'You': http://www.politicalcompass.org/crowdchart.php?showform=&Mitt+Romney=7.0%2C6.5&Barack+Obama=6.0%2C6.0&Virgil+Goode=9.0%2C9.0&Gary+Johnson=9.5%2C0.0&Rocky+Anderson=4.5%2C-2.0&Jill+Stein=-3.0%2C-3.0&Stewart+Alexander=-5.0%2C-2.0&You=2.62,-7.49

I voted Liberal.

Most rich countries are rich because of well run states that have separation of powers and legal systems that protect property rights.  The very rich countries also have governments that invest hugely in pure research that seeds the innovation for private entrepreneurs.  The jet engine, computer chip and the internet are fine examples of this.  In theory they could have been done privately but in practice governments put the seed money in and thus made sure their countries were richer.

I know some think Bitcoin is a threat to this.  Every time it comes up, we get the same "Bitcoin can't be taxed" vs. "Bitcoin can be taxed just like cash" discussion.

You know these polls are too simplistic.  I would say I'm more socially liberal but fiscally conservative but I have some libertarian views as well.  So it's really all about labels and that's what the press and gov. and rhetoric do to people, instead of you thinking about each issue and trying to come to a conclusion.

Sexually Liberal Feminist here.

I have puzzled about this for a long time, being very, very fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

But like it or not, the poll is accurate as it stands.  The reason is that every couple of years, it gets around time to vote.  And people do it, putting aside their 'differences and uniqueness' and they place a vote in what is best described as a binary decision process.

Thanks all for the feedback so far. I wanted to make this a simple poll without delving too far into the nuances of each political philosophy; I apologize if anarchists couldn't find an agreeable option between the three provided choices.  :) Perhaps that was an oversight on my part.

I see that libertarian is out in the lead currently, which I expected, but conservatives and liberals are both well represented. Perhaps there is something in bitcoin for everyone -- conservatives can enjoy the prospect of holding money in bitcoin to partially avoid (for now at least) the increasing drive in politics to increase taxes on wealth. Libertarians are attracted to the lack of a central bank. Also, from my experience, it seems that many young people are liberal and it just so happens that many bitcoin users are young and tech savvy individuals. Perhaps they enjoy the (somewhat) anonymous nature of bitcoin and the potential for black market trade, such as Silk Road, etc? (given that most liberals in the US are pro marijuana legalization).

The refining quality wouldn't be in loosening the libertarian option, but tightening the authoritarian one.  Enough with these silly dichotomies.

What about Independents that don't follow any of those three fucked up parties...lame.

libertarians probably consider themselves independents, but they obviously follow an extremist/ideological script.

What's extremist about it?

Free thought in a dictatorship is always extreme :).

Such odd times we live in where "stop waving that gun at me" is an extremist line :P

they have a one-size-fits-all approach. from my experience, they think the world would be almost utopian if we removed government. it's as simple as that. then again, maybe i am conflating anarchism with libertarianism.

i had a libertarian/anarchist tell me that the biggest tragedy in the dorner case was all the money that the LAPD had to spend to track him down... not the fact that innocent people were murdered.

You can be independent, have independent thought and NOT be a Libertarian...

Example?

Not part of any ideology, not conservative (WTF?)
Please add anarchist and scientologist

Scientologist?

How about you discuss the content of libertarianism, rather than simply classifying it as "one size fits all" as if that's a disproof.

An anarchist argument is quite simple:
In every sphere of activity, giving some group the authority to take the money of another group and enforce their will on them will likely have bad consequences. I say "likely" because I'm open to the possibility that certain laws may do some good. However, I also recognize that the types of laws that a real government will provide aren't necessarily the good ones--in other words, there's no plausible way to construct a government such that it only does good things.

Is that "one size fits all"? Sure, in some respects. But I can equally argue that a statist position imposes "one size fits all" rules on its citizens. So let's argue content, rather than exchanging stupid platitudes.

I've never met anyone that thinks Libertarianism is some kind of attempt to create Utopia. I'd think anyone who thought this Utopia could even happen would be a fool and incredibly naive.

idea: keep undocumented immigrants, deport liberals.  problem solved!

Social libertarian, of course. I support right to bear arms, right to use any illicit substance we want without threat of prison time, basically maximal individual freedom. Only governments and corporations need regulation, they need regulation because of their built in ability for the people running them to distance themselves from the responsibility of their actions.... and because we don't want all our national parks being plundered by any corporation that sees the potential for profit... some things just need regulation. :)

I believe in a republic whose job is only to protect my liberty and stay away from everything else like my guns, my privecy, my money (they can't print money or have a central bank) my speech, my association, my body (if I want to inject drugs it's my body my republic). So what does that make me a republican?

we know it won't be a utopia. we also know that in the grand scheme of things, more hurt than help will be caused by massive state power. the system never stays where it's at, just keeps slowly creepin. and this is why there should be absolutely no gun control period, because their 10 round capacity limit would quickly work it's way down to 6 and the proposed stricter background checks would have a progressively increasing tax attached to them.