Thread by @davetroy

1/So-called "progressives" engaged in web3 crypto-land need to come to grips with the libertarian traditions from which 'sound money' flows.

It's rooted in "Austrian Economics," which is based on property rights. In the US, this strain of economics was used to defend slavery.

2/It also promotes an extremely hierarchical theory of society and of value, conflating monetary possessions with societal value. This "hierarchical" mode is also prominent in the history of the alt-right and indeed in Naziism, eugenics, and other rather unsavory traditions.

3/There have been various attempts to draw "new age" lefty progressive types into "sound money" Austrian Economics. This insane film, Thrive, was released in 2011 and aimed at left-leaning audiences. It was screened at @OccupyLA by Lisa Clapier, in fact.

4/This review reveals the film's right-wing fascist vision... which is exactly what is being proposed now in cryptopian circles. It's all just re-warmed 'Protocols' and deeply anti-Semitic. (Lisa Clapier went on to promote QAnon.)
huffpost.com/entry/thrive-f…

5/I don't know how progressives can, in good conscience, align themselves with a cultish movement that has been so closely aligned with libertarianism, the Kochs, and QAnon. It's internally inconsistent and will end up going badly later. Distance yourself from it; disown it.

6/For progressives who want to innovate and build imaginative new systems and payment processing solutions, it would be a good idea to develop a set of principles that you subscribe to, and signal that to the public. Right now, crypto people look like extremists to the public.

7/Support for regulation, transparency, KYC, and a rejection of anti-Semitism and support for democratic, open governance of money would be a good start. Obviously state backed currencies need to be modernized; be part of that.

Otherwise you're eroding democratic governance.

8/Forces that erode democratic governance tend to put power into places that governments can't, well, govern. That sounds maybe good at first, but think about what that really means. If you're actually an anarchist and not a progressive, okay, but own the label.

9/But progressives and people in favor of democratic processes and institutions don't create systems that erode them. Pick a side. Right now those choices boil down to global international fascism or democratic statism.

10/So again, I'm in favor of innovation and digital currencies. I'm not in favor of fascism, Ponzi schemes, the gold standard, or Austrian Economics.

Being pro-democracy means bringing massive regulatory pressure to crypto that keep bubbles from forming.

Property rights was the primary fetish of major slaveholder and statesman John C. Calhoun. This article offers an overview of his beliefs and how they informed the Civil War.
historynet.com/john-c-calhoun…

This is another great story that illustrates the fundamental dysfunction of libertarian systems at scale.
vox.com/policy-and-pol…