I, like many of you, am processing the results of the recent US election, in which Donald Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote. While pundits debate, left-wing mainstream media personalities mourn, and yes, many Trump supporters cheer ecstatically, it is perfectly clear to me as a progressive Bitcoiner: if the Democratic Party wants a future in America, it must embrace Bitcoin.
Let me explain what I mean. Not only do I think it is imperative that the party embrace Bitcoin if it is to survive, but after this decisive Trump victory, I think many within the party, and the independent voters who vote in and out for Democratic candidates, do so too . I want to make a drastic change and go back to the drawing board.
Bernie is back and he has something to say.
It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party that has failed the working class finds that the working class has failed them.
While Democratic leaders defend the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.
And they are right. pic.twitter.com/lM2gSJmQFL
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 6, 2024
With Biden’s term coming to an end and Harris conceding the race in defeat, Bernie is not mincing words with his criticism of the Democratic Party and its priorities. “It shouldn’t be a huge surprise that a Democratic Party that has failed the working class finds that the working class has failed them.” Many within the party, and former Bernie supporters who may no longer be in the party or no longer supporting, have been beating this drum for some time: Democrats favor coastal elites, who think intellectually about progressive politics and “wokism,” while expressing lipstick. services (and patronizing various other minority groups) to the American working class. After losing twice to Donald Trump, many Democrats, progressives and certainly independent and Democratic American voters are wondering: where do we go from here?
Trump is a tour de force. A charismatic figure who truly changed the course of American politics in ways that the Republican Party, strategists, journalists and the political establishment never thought possible. After 2016, the Democratic Party has struggled to come up with answers to the populism of Trump and MAGA. While the mainstream media may continue to frame his victories as the product of racism, sexism or other beliefs steeped in identity politics, they did the same in 2016. many within the party accept that the strategies around identity politics, anti-Trump and some moral high ground are decisively ineffective.
While we will all be analyzing data, voter profiles, trends, etc. in the coming months, many journalists, including some quite influential progressive media outlets including Pod Save America, Breaking Points and more, have admitted that the Democratic Party needs to become re-established . the party of working people and focus on the economy and inflation, which was one of the most Important issues for voters this year at the ballot box. The Democratic party period from 2016 to the present has focused heavily on identity politics, what many consider “wokism” and more, which I wouldn’t immediately discredit. Much of this is important. But the weight and prioritization of these issues over the economic and other hardships facing Americans has been the problem. Many Democrats and progressives knew this, but now we have data and election results that prove this is not a winning strategy for the party, especially in the presidential election.
It’s a pretty unique position to be a progressive Bitcoiner, and it’s helped me analyze the world and predict certain trends and outcomes in interesting ways that Bitcoiners, or progressives outside of the Bitcoin bubble, often talk about see head. In fact, I’m not the only one. Many of the outspoken progressives and leftists in the bitcoin world were former Bernie Bros, inspired by Occupy Wall Street and other populist economic messages about wealth inequality, corporate takeovers in America, big bank bailouts and the global financial crisis of 2008. Many of us have been deterred by the party’s pivot away from these fights, even to the point where Senator Elizabeth Warren has collaborated and heavily funded by big banks, not to mention its and many others extremely hostile stances against the revolutionary technology that emerged in the wake of the global financial crisis: Bitcoin.
Here’s my take: Not only should Democrats embrace Bitcoin to have a political future in America – I think many current and former members would too is much more open to it. Representative Ro Khanna is a leading example of a progressive Democrat who understands where the Democratic Party has lost ground to Republicans on economic issues and Bitcoin. At the Bitcoin conference in Nashville last summer, Representative Khanna said, “Being against Bitcoin is like being against cell phones or the laptop or semiconductors: it’s a technology.” Bitcoin is for freedom.”
Bitcoin and campaign finance advocates played a major role in this year’s presidential elections. While most Democrats and the Harris campaign chose to largely ignore Bitcoin and the industry, with some neutral or vague tech support here and there, after four hostile years under the Biden administration, this appears to be a mistake they don’t realize. could afford. to make. Many progressives and Democrats can continue to speak out against the industry and the campaign finance and super pacs that brought in Big Crypto Money (with campaign finance and then Bitcoin the technology being two different things), but it is an issue that can no longer be ignored. and almost weekly it seems to become more and more bipartisan (incl owned by Bitcoin in AmericaA recent study by Colin Brown, Troy Cross and Andrew Perkins shows that this is exceptionally broad and diverse across the political spectrum.
Donald Trump and the Republican Party have used it and amassed it crypto voters with one problem in big ways. Campaign promises include the protection of the right to self-custody, a US Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, to support the crypto and bitcoin mining industries, Free Roseand more. We’ll see if he delivers on these promises, and it’s unclear how big an impact Trump’s pro-crypto positions had on the election outcome, but it’s not negligible. And if anything, it also symbolized what we saw that was very important to American voters: a big shift from the current administration and big promises regarding the economy and economic prosperity for America.
As Democrats go back to the drawing board to determine the future of the party and their priorities, many are ready to go big, unencumbered by what has (sorry, had to) the neoliberal coalitions of Hilary, Biden and Harris. And there’s one good place to start: the economy, stupid! Affordability, inflation, and hope for a better economic future for the middle class and working families are the top priorities, and what Americans will ultimately vote for in large numbers. Bitcoin has an important role to play in this approach and messaging, as an inflation hedge, incredible savings technology for working families, censorship-resistant payments (should progressive activists find themselves in a position where they need resistance money against Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies), and much more more. If the Democrats are serious about returning to some of their roots as the party of the working class, including an olive branch of former independents and Bernie supporters who are passionate about fighting for financial freedom and a better life for the American working class, Occupy, and furthermore, they will find that Bitcoin is an incredible tool for that purpose. With Bitcoin there is no barrier to ownership, no middleman, no broker or bank that you have to use or be “accredited” by
Permissionless, freedom money. Could this be a rallying cry for the next chapter in the progressive movement and for Democrats to use in their campaign? It seems almost inevitable…a when, not an if…that the Democratic party capitulates to Bitcoin and the demands of the American people or faces extinction. Myself, Margot Paez and others out The progressive Bitcoiner will certainly be here to advocate for a rebirth of the progressive movement powered by Bitcoin.
This is a guest post by Trey Walsh. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.