[2014-06-28] Congressional Candidate B.J. Guillot talks Bitcoin and Politics

[aliceHortrex]

http://cointelegraph.com/news/111950/congressional-candidate-bj-guillot-talks-bitcoin-and-politics-interview

Bitcoin has finally grabbed the attention of Congress. Earlier this year, a Robocoin brand Bitcoin ATM machine was brought to D.C. and put on display in Congress. There, Congressman Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado, publicly purchased some bitcoin, becoming the first United States Representative to do so.

Polis remains Bitcoin's biggest proponent in Congress, but if things go right in the upcoming primary and general election in November, Bitcoin could have another staunch ally. B.J. Guillot is running for a Congressional seat in Washington State's 2nd District. But, where Polis is just getting into Bitcoin, Guillot was born from our ranks.

B.J. Guillot is a Bitcoin miner. Even today, he stubbornly sticks to mining actual Bitcoin and not any of the potentially more profitable altcoins. A strong supporter of internet and privacy rights, Guillot hopes to make Bitcoin support bipartisan by joining Congress as a Republican.

[Chef Ramsay]

For such a computer guy, his Congressional website is shit. The current rep is a democrat who narrowly escaped being deposed last time. It does look like BJ is out there campaigning attending republican events and such so best of luck.

[joyteq]

For such a computer guy, his Congressional website is shit. The current rep is a democrat who narrowly escaped being deposed last time. It does look like BJ is out there campaigning attending republican events and such so best of luck.

Hey, Chef.  This is the candidate from the article, B.J. Guillot.

Yeah, my website isn't the greatest thing out there, but FYI my website is running on an original 64 Megabyte Microsoft Xbox that I was able to boot up in Linux.  Rather than Apache, it's running a teeny, tiny single file Java webserver called NanoHTTPD.  More info on that at:
http://bgfax.com/xbox/

I wrote the HTML on the site myself, but I admit I'm not good at CSS at all.  I prefer to write stuff form scratch than use all those bloated frameworks.  I don't really like sites like WordPress or those other political campaign websites that you buy pre-built.  For modern campaigns, the actual websites aren't as important as social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, so I didn't want to spend an undue amount of time or money spiffing up the basic website.

[Chef Ramsay]

For such a computer guy, his Congressional website is shit. The current rep is a democrat who narrowly escaped being deposed last time. It does look like BJ is out there campaigning attending republican events and such so best of luck.

.  For modern campaigns, the actual websites aren't as important as social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, so I didn't want to spend an undue amount of time or money spiffing up the basic website.

It's perception, brother. Mediocre websites belittle one's candidacy even though I agree that social sites are key.  Any other republican competition or are you setting your sights on the general already? Also, what kind of republican would you say that you'd liken yourself to. I saw on your FB page some ode to Bush the 1st.

[CoinMode]

Yeah, my website isn't the greatest thing out there, but FYI my website is running on an original 64 Megabyte Microsoft Xbox that I was able to boot up in Linux.  Rather than Apache, it's running a teeny, tiny single file Java webserver called NanoHTTPD.  More info on that at:
http://bgfax.com/xbox/

Listen kiddo, you aren't Warren Buffet and you must show your constituency that you take great care and pride in your work, and that includes having a serious website. Do you plan to show up to the debates in a suit made out of duct tape to show us that, in addition to being a 1337 console h/\ck3r, you are a 1337 clothing h/\ck3r?


Get a grip and show some damn respect for the voters. That website design, the "server" running it, and your attitude are absolutely disgusting.

[joyteq]

Any other republican competition or are you setting your sights on the general already? Also, what kind of republican would you say that you'd liken yourself to. I saw on your FB page some ode to Bush the 1st.

There are only three people in the primary.  The Democratic incumbent, a hard left Independent, and myself.  So there's no Republican competition in the primary.  Washington State has what's called a "Top 2" Primary.  So the top two vote getters out of the three candidates advance on to the general.  Top 2 appears to be a system designed to weed out third parties, so Libertarians, Independents, Greens, etc., really don't have a shot of making it to the general unless there's no R or D candidate on the primary ballot.

Interesting question.  It'd be a mix.  I don't think I share the exact same viewpoint as any other single Republican.  I love the liberty-minded focus of Ron Paul, and the plan to abolish the IRS and replace it with the FairTax proposal pushed by Mike Huckabee.  Also, as a space fan, I think I'm about the only one left on the planet that actually liked Newt Gingrich's plan for a moon base--though I don't think NASA will be the one to build it (will probably be SpaceX or some other "newspace" company that is able to do things for fractions of the cost.)  The moon base will have to come after we are able to start paying down the debt, though.

[joyteq]

Listen kiddo, you aren't Warren Buffet and you must show your constituency that you take great care and pride in your work, and that includes having a serious website. Do you plan to show up to the debates in a suit made out of duct tape to show us that, in addition to being a 1337 console h/\ck3r, you are a 1337 clothing h/\ck3r?

Get a grip and show some damn respect for the voters. That website design, the "server" running it, and your attitude are absolutely disgusting.

You're funny.

Actually, if there was a Mythbusters convention, it probably would be appropriate to show up in a suit made a duct tape.  Your post reminded me of a funny story.  I showed up in my nice suit (yes, real suit, not duct tape) at a local Bitcoin Meetup last month to introduce myself, and at first, a few guys were nervous because thought thought I was a FBI agent.

But really, my website isn't the prettiest, but it isn't THAT bad.  It's actually pretty similar looking to this Bitcointalk forums site.  My site is divided into clearly defined pages that you can navigate to along the top.  It's got social media integrations to Facebook, Google+.  It has Google Mappings integrations using Google Fusion Tables.  And also integrations with PayPal and Coinbase for donations.  You can easily find what you're looking for without getting stuck into needless loops or clickbait.

You think running a server off a Microsoft Xbox in Washington State, where Microsoft is based out of, is disgusting?

[Chef Ramsay]

Listen kiddo, you aren't Warren Buffet and you must show your constituency that you take great care and pride in your work, and that includes having a serious website. Do you plan to show up to the debates in a suit made out of duct tape to show us that, in addition to being a 1337 console h/\ck3r, you are a 1337 clothing h/\ck3r?

Get a grip and show some damn respect for the voters. That website design, the "server" running it, and your attitude are absolutely disgusting.

But really, my website isn't the prettiest, but it isn't THAT bad.  It's actually pretty similar looking to this Bitcointalk forums site.

Yeah, I've been bitching about this site and it's lack of video or tweet embedding for like 6 months now. Of course, forums aren't supposed to be pretty but anyway, it was just the first thing that came across my mind when I viewed your site. http://www.tom4michigan.com/ is a nice looking site and has all the bare essentials. Hopefully, you and Tom will become colleagues shortly. Of course, Tom is a neanderthal since he hasn't heeded my words to accept BTC.

[joyteq]

http://www.tom4michigan.com/ is a nice looking site and has all the bare essentials. Hopefully, you and Tom will become colleagues shortly. Of course, Tom is a neanderthal since he hasn't heeded my words to accept BTC.

I guess beauty must be in the eyes of the beholder.  I went to go look at his site just now, and didn't really like it overall (although the Transformers font was cool).  It's a simple cookie-cutter NationBuilder website.  Tom should probably ask NationBuilder if they have a plugin for Coinbase or Bitpay to accept BTC.

Thanks though for the feedback though on the website.  I may take some time over the next few days to see if I can spiff it up a bit.  Tom's site seems a bit too busy with the overhanging menu bar (the part I didn't like), but there are a few things that looked okay.

[dwdoc]

Best of luck to you. I hope you will be sworn in in time to support The Virtual Currency Tax Reform Act which would authorize the Internal Revenue Service to treat virtual currencies as currency for federal tax purposes.

Let's show this guy our support!

http://www.vote4bj.com/contribute.html

[joyteq]

OK, so I spent a couple of hours putting some "lipstick on the pig" of my website.  It's by no means a work of art, but hopefully it's not quite so fugly as before.

http://www.vote4bj.com

[Ron~Popeil]

Good luck in your campaign. I m from PA so I am not even sure I am allowed to donate but I wish you the best of luck.

If you were to win and take a seat in the congress would you vote for or against articles of impeachment for Obama?

[dwdoc]

You can donate up to $100 worth of bitcoin if you are in the US and are at least 18yo.

[DrG]

Best of luck on your endeavors BJ.  I have family that live just south of your district.  While just as liberal as CA, I have noticed WA gets stuff done like the light rail that is being built near SeaTac airport.  In LA that project would takes about 3 decades 

[Robin_Good]

I hate it when somebody starts to mix politics and Bitcoin. Of course, politicians are trying to get a new voice, but I believe that such statements hinder the development of Bitcoin ecosystem

[fatty_but_happy]

My advice to folks: It's too late to get into Bitcoin mining at this stage.  Don't even try anymore unless you just want to do it for fun and learn how the process works--which is totally a fine thing to do as long as you understand you won't make any money.

It is a very strange advice for the person who wants to BTC's system evolved

[DrG]

My advice to folks: It's too late to get into Bitcoin mining at this stage.  Don't even try anymore unless you just want to do it for fun and learn how the process works--which is totally a fine thing to do as long as you understand you won't make any money.

It is a very strange advice for the person who wants to BTC's system evolved

What's strange about that?  It's the truth for most miners who would try to enter now. No commercial miner on sale right now is projected to earn a profit.  Mining can teach you the behind the scenes stuff of how mining functions and how difficulty increases and so forth (learning through hands-on).

[joyteq]

If you were to win and take a seat in the congress would you vote for or against articles of impeachment for Obama?

Personally, I think impeachment proceedings are all just political theater and really just diverts attention from real issues and wastes time.  I don't like what Obama has done, but in reality, he only has two years left.  Besides, if Obama were to be forced to leave office, then Biden would become president, and as an incumbent, Biden would have a much easier time winning the 2016 election.  I'd rather there be no presidential incumbent running in 2016.

[joyteq]

My advice to folks: It's too late to get into Bitcoin mining at this stage.  Don't even try anymore unless you just want to do it for fun and learn how the process works--which is totally a fine thing to do as long as you understand you won't make any money.

It is a very strange advice for the person who wants to BTC's system evolved

DrG already gave a response that hits the nail on the head.

My statement was written the way it was, because I don't want to mislead people into jumping into mining if they are not financially prepared to lose money.  A year ago, if you jumped into mining, there was almost no way to not make money.  Today, you have to do your homework before you jump in, otherwise, you're throwing money down the drain. All the variables have to line up just right--you have to purchase a good quality but low-cost mining rig from a reputable company that delivers on-time (where past performance is no indicator of current performance), have to have cheap power, live somewhere with decent tax laws, and hope the price of BTC to USD moves favorably for you, all whilst constantly hoping the rise of in the difficulty level will eventually start to level out (which may not happen with all the new gear coming on the market).

If despite all that, you jump into mining, that's totally cool.  You're helping with network decentralization and all that jazz and learning how Bitcoin works "under the hood", but the days of mining printing presses are long gone.

[joyteq]

I hate it when somebody starts to mix politics and Bitcoin. Of course, politicians are trying to get a new voice, but I believe that such statements hinder the development of Bitcoin ecosystem

The Bitcoin community needs allies in Congress, otherwise you face getting regulated into the ground (in the US).

There are only a few good voices for Bitcoin now in Congress.  You have Democratic Congressman Jared Polis from Colorado and Republican Congressman Steve Stockman from Texas.  However, as far as I know, you're losing Rep. Stockman.  He tried running for the Senate this time, and lost the primary, and I don't believe he was able to run for both the Senate and House at the same time, so he will be forced to give up his House seat in January.