It's Independence Day in the United States, the Fourth of July. Today is when Americans celebrate declaring a clean break from mother Britain. It's about freedom and fresh starts.
The U.S.A. has a legacy of being rather independent-minded. With the exception of Native Americans (about 2 or 3% of Americans), everyone in the U.S. migrated in from elsewhere in the world. Let's say 97% of Americans' ancestors at some point packed their bags and left their homelands. That step, leaving and emigrating to America, was the first act of rebellion. In this way, America has drawn a certain breed of people...those willing to break from the old ways and seek out the new. And, no doubt, this has bred a lineage of an independent-minded folk.
Even when Americans began to grow comfortable with the new status-quo, the hardy, independent-minded of the new breed simply pushed westward. Even today, the western states are known for housing a somewhat stubborn, leave-me-the-heck-alone breed of cowboys and cowgirls.
The Gadsden flag of 1775 bears the message of a hard-headed, independent mindset. It's a clear warning to Britain, effectively saying, "Leave me alone."
The New Hampshire state motto is even more blunt: "Live free or die."
I notice that my last post here on Hive was about Atlas Shrugged, the Ayn Rand novel that is one of the required readings of Libertarians. Ayn Rand fled the communist Soviet Union and championed the freedom of the U.S. She truly hated the economics of collectivism and the lack of personal freedom that goes along with it. One might conclude that I'm a raging libertarian based on these posts. But, I'm really not. I just like freedom.
Which is what I'm writing about. Cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin especially, has let the economic genie out of the bottle. For many people in the world, it has enabled so many things and empowered so many previously powerless people. Those of us in the comfortably wealthy "first world" nations are likely the less-enthusiastic adopters. Those people in poorer nations, and those in nations suffering from turmoil either politically or economically, get it. They relish crypto, adopt it, and use it.
It's just currently odd to see the U.S. mounting a war against cryptocurrency. The U.S. is the supposed bastion of freedom, but not in this case. I can't decide if governmental leaders are scared of Bitcoin and crypto and therefore wish to ban it, or if they truly don't believe in free market principles and think socialism and communism are better economic systems as opposed to allowing an individual to manage his or her own money, or they're simply playing power games and trying to score political points. I don't see other options.
Still, it's confusing and frustrating in the land of freedom to see freedom under fire.
I'm not worried though, when the genie is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back in.
Happy Independence Day.
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