Two weeks ago I attended the Democratic National Convention. The chief reason I did so was to try and encourage an impartiality to our coverage of politics as it relates to the election and Bitcoin here at Bitcoin Magazine. Earlier this year we were invited the the Republican National Convention at the last minute, after David Bailey’s coordination with the Trump campaign began preceding his speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville in July.

It bothered me to see people associated with this company taking such a one-sided stand with the Republican Party, despite the reality that in fact many more Republican politicians support Bitcoin compared to Democrats. The Republican Party even formally integrated Bitcoin into their public policy platform at the convention. The Democrats have not.

That is not to say that no Democrats support Bitcoin. At the national level Representative Ro Khanna from California, Ritchie Torres from New York, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand also from New York have been vocal supporters of Bitcoin in Congress. These politicians exist, they are vocal, but they do not seem to have the same resonance with the rest of the party or their voting base that exists in the Republican Party.

During the first day that I attended, Bitcoin was not mentioned a single time. It wasn’t a very prominent topic at the RNC, but it was mentioned. It was included in the party policy platform. No such inclusion took place at the DNC. The focus of the first day was on the coming election, Kamala versus Trump.

I do have to say that not much of the discussion centered around policy. It was mostly rhetorical, and focused on general issues concerning Democratic voters, interspersed with the type of rah-rah language one would expect at an event focused on candidate selection for the Democrat party this election cycle.

While no policies explicitly were touched on, many of the issues that Democrats find important were. Minority inclusion, women’s rights, well paying jobs and union security, healthcare (especially as it relates to Covid which is still circulating even though people don’t place the same focus on it), and the perceived attempt by Republicans to roll back progress from the point of view of Democrats on many of these issues.

A number of union leaders spoke either in person or with recorded messages during the convention’s first day, the Arizona Pipefitters and Pumbers Union, the Communications Workers of America Union (CWA), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the American Federation of State, County, and Munipical Employees (AFSCME). All of them had much to say on the topic of lost jobs during Covid, and the recovery of jobs that took place under the Biden Administration. Another big issue was union pension funds. Union jobs are generally sought, and coveted, due to the benefits and retirement security that comes along with them, not simply the good base pay.

Is anything standing out to you? Maybe the fact that Bitcoin actually can synergize and help advance these goals that Democrats seem to care about?

Bitcoin can absolutely help minorities suffering economically, at least over long time horizons. Ignoring the aberration of this current market cycle, people holding bitcoin over long time periods have absolutely benefited from increased purchasing power. While obviously it takes money to make money, and people starting with less will realize less in terms of appreciation, anyone with money to save has historically in the long term wound up with more purchasing power. This won’t help people in poverty as much as those with a large surplus of money to invest, but it will help.

Bitcoin can also assist women in maintaining access to healthcare that is increasingly being banned in parts of the US. Financial institutions have increasingly been censoring financial transactions deemed troublesome culturally, despite their legal status. There is no reason to assume that this activity will continue only affecting people on the right side of the political spectrum. Bitcoin is an alternative to traditional financial institutions. And I shouldn’t need to tell people that it can function even for services that are outright deemed illegal.

Pension funds for workers have also recently started taking conservative exposure to bitcoin, which again looking at historical long term performance can be a huge benefit to solvency issues in the long term facing pensions all over the country.

Bitcoin can even be a massive boon to renewable energy, something liberals care very deeply about as it relates to mitigating the consequences of global climate change and maintaining our natural environment. Bitcoin miners are in a very unique position, with AI operators only recently starting to fill a similar niche, to be buyers of stranded renewable energy before it becomes connected to the grid. This allows revenue the instant these projects are finished, rather than having to wait to be connected to retail energy consumers on the grid.

That is to say nothing about the general open access nature of Bitcoin, and how it can advance the philosophy of freedom and inclusion globally by providing people with an option in the face of fighting and resisting totalitarian regimes worldwide. Bitcoin is a natural fit for many of the proclaimed beliefs and principles of Democrats.

So why is there no attention from the Party at large? Why is there no mention or inclusion in their policy platform similar to Republicans?

It’s the base. The recent American Bitcoin Survey by the Nakamoto Project showed us that bitcoin ownership is a bipartisan thing, that it is not concentrated on the right as is generally perceived in the public. So why does that perception continue to exist? Narratives. Stories. Messaging. The reason the Democratic Party does not care as widely about Bitcoin as a policy issue isn’t because Democrats and liberals don’t use it or hold it, it is because of the wider narratives. The perception is that Bitcoin is a rightwing thing. The associations made between Bitcoin and important issues come across as rightwing.

Democratic politicians at large are not going to care about Bitcoin in terms of policy, and cater to Bitcoiners with positive policy, unless those narratives and associations change. This is the reality of politics, politicians cater to their voters. They do not generally take forward thinking initiatives on their own unless they see some benefit in terms of positive voter reaction and perception towards that initiative. This is politics.

Shouting at politicians won’t change that, demonizing them for apathetic or negative reactionary responses to the perception of it being rightwing in a polarized political climate won’t change that. You need to reach the voting base. That is the only thing that will cause a change in attitude and action on the part of Democratic politicians. People who are on the left need to be shown that Bitcoin is something that aligns with and can advance their political goals and agendas, the same way that wider perception has been propagated on the right.

It will definitely be an uphill battle given the baggage of past and existing perception, but this is the only way that the increasingly cemented perception of Bitcoin being a rightwing thing can be pushed back against. Without concerted effort to demonstrate and build narratives showing left leaning people that Bitcoin can, and does, align with their values, Bitcoin is doomed to be forced into a left/right partisan paradigm. 

Recently, I’ve been reading about the foundations of the American Labor Movement. Specifically, the birth of the Industrial Workers of the World and a group called the Wobblies, a nickname given to IWW Members. At its peak, the IWW had over 150,000 members in 1917, with global memberships and significant power and influence. While the IWW was a socialist leaning organization in theory, many of its core values were intertwined into the DNA of the American Labor movement, and was undeniably pivotal to the development of organized labor and a strong working class following the industrial revolution. The parallels between some of the IWW’s origins and ideologies and Bitcoin are significant, and shall be demonstrated with quotes rather than boring you to death with in depth history.

All quotes are attributed to the book “Wobblies: A Graphic History of The Industrial Workers of the World (Buhle/Schulman.

Origins and Genesis

“No one can say exactly where the inspiration for the IWW came from. The origins are too numerous both in the U.S. and abroad…”

Similarly, the nickname of the Wobblies, has no clear origin. Naturally, some of the mythology around Bitcoin comes to mind, and while Bitcoin’s origins are clearly documented via white paper and email communications, its creator or creators is or are shrouded in mystery. As Bitcoin caught gained popularity, its growth was decentralized and organic. In another parallel, while the IWW and American Labor Movement had prior inspirations, it was a pioneer in the sense of organizing labor across ethnic, gender, religious and other demographic differences.

“After the Civil War, massive industry grew up faster than anyone could have imagined, with previously unthinkable wealth accruing to the bankers but with millions of desperately poor working people, employed at low wages or unemployed in the frequent economic recessions”

From the financial crisis, to post-covid wealth accumulation within the ranks of billionaires, to a current AI, robotics and self-automation boom underway, this story is all too familiar. However, recessions have been all but outlawed, replaced by government intervention, currently placing systems as large as Pensions and Social Security on the equivilant of government welfare and dependence.

Wobblies and Bitcoiners

“The Wobbly, male or female, Asian or Occidental, black, brown, red or white, was only an ordinary human being in physique”

We feel the same about Bitcoiners. We have all met some of the most inspiring people in our lives in this space. It is both the character, grit and determination that allows individuals to discover and understand Bitcoin, as well as the character building journey a Bitcoiner must take to fully grasp Bitcoin and share it with a world that rounds out what many of us believe is the most talented and motivated communities in the world.

“Their story was collaborative, collective, not reliant on any one hero or heroine-as heroic (or tragic) as individual Wobblies lives might be.”

Kill your heroes. Death to Ego. Bitcoin doesn’t need any of us.

Solidarity: A movement greater than the individual

“The world of the Wobblies was one realized in its best moments by solidarity across race, ethnic, gender and nationality lines”

The beauty of Bitcoin is it requires no trust between those who transact with each other. And in doing such, Bitcoin allows humans to deconstruct the daily head to toe analysis we perform on each other daily; an analysis that instinctually calls out our differences, with roots in paranoia and fear. While blind solidarity amongst Bitcoiners is the antithesis of “dont trust, verify,” there is a strong natural bond between Bitcoiners. I believe the future of Bitcoin, when facing its largest tests ahead, will very much depend upon a deepened solidarity between those who subscribe to Bitcoin’s Genesis, core values, and blind commitment to being honest, true and trustless.

AFL vs. Knights of Labor

“The earliest mass movement for an eight hour workday during 1885-86, highlighted the different roles of two kinds of labor movements. The American Federation of Labor, founded in 1883, sought to organize skilled workers (almost entirely white and male) only…whereas the Knights of Labor, founded in 1869 as a secret society..extended its membership to almost all workers (except Chinese), including African-Americans and women.”

The AFL and its exclusive country club brand of membership outlasted the ultimate demise of the Knights of Labor and still exists today as the AFL-CIO. In reading about the different philosophies of the AFL and Knights of Labor it brings up parallels within the Bitcoin community, frequently heard criticisms of Bitcoin Maxi’s, as well as Bitcoin v. Crypto. I leave you the reader to draw your own thoughts here, as parallels are in their nature loose affiliations at best.

The Movement

“In the industrially advanced United States, the working class had been prepared ready to assume control of society and to replace “politics” and the “State” with a government of direct rule. As Marx had pointed out about the Paris Commune (and Lenin would repeat for the Soviets), the existing government apparatus could not be infiltrated and taken over piece-meal; it had to be dissolved and repalced by a truly democratic, modern form of government”

There are two camps of thought in Bitcoin, one that calls for a full collapse of the current financial system, and migration to a Bitcoin Standard, and another that insists Bitcoin can co-exist with and even surpass the current financial system without the latters’ collapse. While money is not identical to government in this parallel, the amount in which money is entrenched in the legacy financial system, is prodigious, and this always sparks interesting debate between Bitcoiners.

“For the IWW..the familiar problem of the socialist movement being notoriously small in the US could be solved in a new way. ‘Educating’ workers into becoming socialists, through newspapers, speeches and election campaigns, was too passive and not very successful. Workers needed to educate themselves, in and through their own actions and self-organization.”

Some opposing parallels here. Immediately, I think of a core value of Bitcoiners, which is that, no one can walk this path for you. Proof of Work can not be sidestepped or bypassed. No individual or group can cheat the quest for knowledge, both about Bitcoin and the system it sits poised to replace. The Bitcoin journeys of individuals and membership-based orgs, absent continuous learning and education, often end up in loss or disappointment. Those who do the work, find that their knowledge of money blossoms, and few if any have ever turned back after coming to deeply understand Bitcoin.

Simultaneously, my mind shifts to the oligarchy’s attempts at no less than a 10 year negative media blitz on all things Bitcoin. It slowed the train but it did not work. The other day, I randomly asked people at the 3rd Street promenade in Santa Monica, to share their thoughts on Bitcoin. Overwhelmingly positive, and having some foundation in accuracy. The movement to dissuade people from finding Bitcoin was a delay of the inevitable at best. Because nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.

Conclusions

On this labor day, I gaze upon the deeply polarized two party political system of the dominant world power today. And as I see labor unions align with one party, at the expense of creating division within their ranks, I see a labor movement that has drifted from its original foundation. While the IWW rose and fell, its pinnacle represented an unwavering movement, a solidarity and commitment to the worker above everything else. And there is power in that. I see parallels today in Bitcoin.

The core principles of Bitcoin transcend our differences and are worth fighting for. At Proof of Workforce, our method of fighting for these values is through education-based Bitcoin adoption for workers, unions, pension funds and municipalities. And in doing so, we are sharing not just bitcoin the asset, or Bitcoin the Network, we are communicating the Genesis of Bitcoin and its values, so that they may not be lost in the progression of time.

Finally, Bitcoin is a natural evolution of the labor movement, sharing many similarities and parallels. However, unlike the labor movement, the worker can rely on Bitcoin, absent any allegiance to any political party, leader or oligarchy. And in this sense, Bitcoin and its system of values stands to be adopted by unions all over the world. And in doing so, unions around the world can become re-aligned to their Genesis Story. A story where solidarity comes above all, a story where workers come together to hold onto the very productive property dependent upon their labor. A story where, as many workers stand to be phased out of relevance due to automation and AI, the unions representing them look forward and claim ownership of the most accessible and promising productive property available to them today; Bitcoin.

This is a guest post by Dom Bei. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.