I, like many of you, am processing the results of the recent US election in which Donald Trump easily won both the Electoral College and the popular vote. As pundits debate, left-wing media figures mourn, and yes, many Trump supporters cheer with delight, as a progressive Bitcoin supporter, it is abundantly clear to me: If the Democratic Party wants a future in America, it must embrace Bitcoin.
Let me explain what I mean. Not only do I believe it is imperative that the party embrace Bitcoin if it wants to survive, but after this decisive Trump win, I think many within the party, and those independent voters who are voting in and out voting for Democratic candidates, are looking to make a radical change and return to… Drawing board.
Bernie is back, and he has something to say.
It should come as no surprise that a Democratic Party that has abandoned working-class people will find that the working class has abandoned them.
While the Democratic leadership defends 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
Now that Biden’s term is coming to an end, and Harris has admitted defeat in the race, Bernie is not mincing his words in his criticism of the Democratic Party and its priorities. “It should come as no surprise that a Democratic Party that has abandoned the working class will find that the working class has abandoned them.” Many within the party, and former Bernie supporters who may no longer be in the party or no longer support it, have been banging this drum for a while: Democrats favor coastal elites, who express views on progressive politics and are intellectually “woke” while overly Talking about progressive politics and intellectual “wokeism.” Serving (and caring for various other minority groups) the American working class. After losing to Donald Trump twice, many Democrats and progressives, and certainly independent and Democratic American voters, are wondering where we go from here?
Trump is a tour de force. A charismatic figure who truly changed the course of American politics in ways the Republican Party, strategists, journalists, and the political establishment never thought possible. The Democratic Party has been struggling to come up with answers against Trump’s populism and MAGA after 2016. And while the mainstream media may continue to portray its victories as the product of racism, sexism, or other beliefs steeped in identity politics, that’s what happened. In 2016. However, many within the party accept that strategies around identity politics, anti-Trumpism, and some moral high ground are decisively ineffective.
While we will all be analyzing data, voter profiles, trends, etc. over the next few months, many journalists, including some influential progressive-leaning outlets including Pod Save America, Breaking Points and others, have acknowledged that the Democratic Party must return to Being Labor and focusing on the economy and inflation that was one of the most important things Issues important to voters At the ballot box this year. The Democratic Party era from 2016 to the present has focused heavily on identity politics, what many consider “Wokism” and more, which I cannot properly discredit. A lot of this is important. But the weight of these issues and their priorities at the expense of the economic and other difficulties faced by Americans was the problem. Many Democrats and progressives knew this, but now we have data and election results proving that this is not a winning strategy for the party, especially in a presidential election.
Being a progressive and a Bitcoin user is in a completely unique position, and it has helped me analyze the world and predict certain trends and outcomes in interesting ways that Bitcoiners, or progressives outside the Bitcoin bubble, often miss. Actually, I’m not alone. Many outspoken progressives and left-leaning Bitcoiners were former Bernie bros, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and other populist economic messages about wealth inequality, corporate takeovers in America, major bank bailouts, and the 2008 global financial crisis. Many of us have been alienated by the Party’s deviation from these fights, even to that extent Senator Elizabeth Warren worked with It was heavily funded by major banks, not to mention them and many others taking a very aggressive stance against the revolutionary technology born in the wake of the global financial crisis: Bitcoin.
Here’s my point: Democrats don’t just have to embrace Bitcoin to have a political future in America — I think many current and former members will as well. More open to it. Rep. Ro Khanna is one leading example of a progressive Democrat who understands where the Democratic Party is losing ground to Republicans on economic and Bitcoin issues. At a Bitcoin conference in Nashville last summer, Rep. Khanna stated, “Standing against Bitcoin is like standing against cell phones, or laptops, or semiconductors, it’s a technology.” Bitcoin for freedom.
Bitcoin and campaign finance advocates It played a big role in this year’s presidential elections. While most Democrats and the Harris campaign have chosen to essentially ignore Bitcoin and the industry, with some neutral or vague support for the technology mentioned here and there, after four hostile years under the Biden administration, this seems to be a mistake they cannot afford. To make. Many progressives and Democrats may continue to speak out against the industry, campaign finance, and the big labor party bringing in big crypto money (i.e. campaign finance and then Bitcoin technology are two different things), but it’s a problem that can no longer be ignored. Almost weekly it seems that the two parties are becoming more and more bipartisan (incl Bitcoin ownership in America(which was shown to be exceptionally broad and diverse across the political spectrum from a recent poll conducted by Colin Brown, Troy Cross, and Andrew Perkins).
Donald Trump and the Republican Party have used and gotten One issue for crypto voters In big ways. Campaign promises Includes protecting the right to self-custody, a strategic reserve of Bitcoin in the United States, to support the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin mining industries, ros freeAnd more. We will see if he follows through on these promises, and it is not clear how much Trump’s pro-crypto stances will affect the election results, but he cannot be ignored. If anything, it also symbolizes what we saw as very important to American voters — a big shift from the current administration, big promises regarding the economy and America’s economic prosperity.
As Democrats go back to the drawing board to determine the party’s future and priorities, many are ready to move forward, unencumbered by what happened (sadly, I had to) with the neoliberal coalitions of Hillary, Biden, and Harris. There’s only one good place to start: the economy, stupid! Affordability, inflation, and hope for a brighter economic future for the middle class and working families are the priorities and what Americans are showing up at the end of the day in large numbers to vote for. Bitcoin plays an important role in this approach and messaging, as an inflation hedge, an amazing savings technology for working families, censorship-resistant payments (if progressive activists find themselves in situations requiring resistance funds against Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies), and beyond. If Democrats are serious about returning to some of their roots as the party of the working class, including an olive branch to former independents and Bernie supporters eager to fight for financial freedom and a better life for working-class Americans, the Occupy movement, and then, they will find Bitcoin an amazing tool to that end. . With Bitcoin, there is no barrier to ownership, no middleman, and no broker or bank you have to use or be “certified” by.
It is not permissible, freedom of money. Could this be a rallying cry for the next chapter of the progressive movement and for Democrats to use on the campaign trail? It seems almost inevitable…when, not if…that the Democratic Party will capitulate to Bitcoin and the demands of the American people, or face extinction. Me, Margot Baez and others Progressive Bitcoiner He will certainly be here to call for a revival 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 the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.