This Is Why Bitcoin Couldn’t Be Stopped

(Originally published in October of 2013)

You may have heard that Silk Road – the truly free online market – was taken down today, by the FBI. In response, the price of Bitcoin crashed 24%. Yet here I am – just a few hours later, feeling very optimistic. Why? Because the philosophy of freedom just showed itself to be massively stronger than statism and its “don’t think, just obey” philosophy. Here’s What Happened As I was finishing my lunch, I saw a story posted on the takedown/crash. I did a bit of checking and conversed with a friend, and then hustled over to a place I know where crypto-anarchists hang out online. These guys were already talking about replacing Silk Road, and doing a better job of it. Forget about the drugs aspect of this – I don’t care for drugs and neither do the people I listened in on – they just want to build free markets. Contrast that to a financial site, where I found a couple of Bitcoin haters, a Fed trying to supercharge as much fear as he/she could, and several people trying to buy Bitcoin at its lows… either that or lamenting that they were out of extra cash. But here’s the interesting part: In the face of an orchestrated attack (and the Feds arranged the day’s events for maximum fear), these people, within minutes, were walking forward, not backward. A Better Philosophy Wins Out Arguably, the greatest triumph of a new philosophy was that of the early Christians (of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries AD); they simply would not be stopped, no matter what was thrown at them. And why wouldn’t they turn back? Because the Roman way was ridiculous and barbaric. Their gods were vile, vain, sometimes stupid and often cruel. Who wants to worship that? These Christians – whatever their faults or virtues – had found a God who loved them, who wished to help and enlighten them, who said they were meant to be free and prosperous. Which way would you choose? The Romans persecuted them and sometimes killed them, but they would not be turned around. These people chose the better philosophy, and in the end, they won. Today I saw the same thing, wrapped in modern circumstances. Freedom-minded people are not stopping, are not abandoning their views. And why should they? Shall we go back to the idiocy and self-contradictory life of worshiping the state? Of pretending that robbery is somehow not robbery when the government does it? Our minds have been removed from the state’s intimidation and conditioning. Shall we go back to believing lies and repeating vapid slogans for the rest of our lives? The Bottom Line Facts At the end of all the discussions, all the fears, all the questions, all of the explaining to newbs and concerned friends, stand these facts:

Our ideas are better than theirs. We offer men and women truth, understanding, compassion (the real kind), and strong, direct relationships. The state offers punishment, fear, an occasional promise of plunder, and intrusion into every relationship in your life.

Our people are better than theirs. Not because we were born better, but because finding and living according to truth produces better people than blind obedience and fear of the lash.

We are not quitting. We can’t. We won’t.

Yes, there may be bruises and even blood along the way, but like the first Christians, our people continue regardless. We’ve come out of the state’s cultivated darkness, and we are moving into more and more light. Why would we want to go back to where we were? Even if we tried, could we really stick with it? Could our minds really fit back into their old restraints? This is why freedom will win, my friends: The genie is out of the bottle and the Internet has spread the message to the four corners of the Earth. It’s a better message. It produces better people. And in the end, we will win. ** Paul Rosenberg FreemansPerspective.com

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