Western politics has turned into a shitshow without vision. Or perhaps its the availability of alternatives that make it so glaring obvious to a growing part of the global population. The multipolar world not only provides an alternative to Pax America, it challenges mediapolitical narratives that beg for a different understanding than ‘just the way it is’. Perhaps its that mirror that makes us just as ugly in the end. Yet, whilst most of us mortals have little say in the games of geopolitics, we all to some extend support it in participating in the way we have organised our societies. But, ‘Bitcoin fixes this’. There is a truly multipolar world waiting for us to be pulled forward, making most of their contemporary (geo)political game redundant.
Multi
From Latin multī, from multus.
Prefix, multi-
Many; pertaining to many things.
The mess of the masses by the few
Before looking at how geopolitical multipolarity and the arrival of the internet, solar energy and now bitcoin has challenged and will continue to challenge the unipolar fiat money (government backed money) based system, let’s first break with some of our believes so firmly grounded in the way we have organised society now. We will have to deconstruct, learn to let go and see ‘the matrix’ for what she is, before we can embrace better and imagine a freedom pulled forward with the work of our own actions. I hope this presents an accessible approach -albeit unworldy possibly- for many of us to find each other in a common direction away from the ever greater societal polarisation.
Having had a green political orientation as a teenager, I should be happy with the projected victory of the greens in Germany’s upcoming elections later this year. Yet, I’m not really. Originally the greens had an anti-establishment approach, but in the 80s the Realos (realists) won from the Fundis (fundamentalists), cementing this direction with Joschka Fischers growing popularity, ending with her even authorising German warplanes to participate in the NATO-bombing of Yugolavia as foreign minister. Since, the greens have continued to morph into thé NATO-party now, being the most aggressive anti-Russia voice in German parliament, placing the neoliberal agenda before the national or green agenda it undermines. It plays this neoliberal, globalist agenda well, even bringing the cultural decay of identity politics to the Germans. As so many that seek rise to power, the game gets played well, but soon the game is all that is seen and thus that is played and defended. So much for the greens as a breath of fresh air concerning structural reform and geopolitical agendas.
Even the Nordstream II pipeline, once embraced by the greens as the cleanest move to move away from nuclear and coal to embrace the transition to renewables, ‘the energiewende‘, has fallen for the neoliberal agenda. It’s Germany that asked for the pipeline and that needs it badly should it wish to stay competitive as it moves to renewables. They need it for balancing of the grid. Russia can do without the pipeline if need be, as western Russian pipelines are in the process of being connected to the east and China can consume it all. And just as the greens next door in The Netherlands, the German greens play the game of the neoliberal western establishment above national interests. Not grasping the geopolitics and lacking vision for structural change they self-righteously play the game, as pawn that is. Ultimately undermining true salvation of biodiversity in support of the destructive game.
And as these greens, so the leftist parties manage to distract their populace. Socio-cultural divides as identity politics, cancel culture or stigmatisation of the right becomes the raison d’être of the day, whilst being blind for the polarisation and violence they bring about with for instance BLM in the USA or just general rising tensions in polarisation. But hey, at least we get to feel good about ourselves. Well, superior even, as these blind woke are anything but awake, sleepwalking the establishment agenda. The majority of the left nowadays has become lost and out of touch with its traditional economic-political battle, as the followers have been silenced, divided and conquered in socio-cultural battles breading cultural desctruction.
And before the right starts touting their horn over these lost socialists or commies, these are titles not even deserving from their perspective as that political-economic agenda of more equal redistribution is mostly history and your perspective of authoritarianism that disrupts markets creating unequality… is beyond their grasp. You will only participate in a socio-cultural divide by either attacking them or erroneously defending what we have now as capetalism and know that what we have has nothing to do with capitalism either. The financial sector and the multinational are the results of a lack of a free market in money and immigrants a result of western military or economic powerplay abroad which makes it our responsibility too. Liberal, socialist, capitalist and apparently green ideology now too has little to do with their traditional ideas if you vote centric/establishment in support of an agenda that undermines these principles. You have to go to the growing fringes to find any understanding and opposition to the neoliberal/neocon agenda. As these growing fringes will always be kept out of government though, do we end up at the point where voting only helps legitimise these apparent democratic institutions?
Just look at the sweeping victory of Mark Rutte’s liberal establishment party VVD in The Netherlands in spite many a scandal to the democratic spirit over recent years. He now even has D66, the biggest electoral winner, to join him by his side. Globalism for the wins. PvdD on the left, FvD on the right or the rare individual like Pieter Omtzigt in the middle (from establishmentarian party CDA) will all be marginalised as the mediapolitical narrative wins the crowd again and again. As D66 leader Kaag gets pushed forward by mediapolitcal narratives she will most likely be a key player in the coming years. But, just as the neolibs pushed Macron forward… what future does it hold for the people after the establishment has saved itself? It tends to get worse.
And, should the odd non-globalist leftie or rightie, a Trump for example, make it center stage it’s an uphill battle from day one until the -forced- end. The mediapolitical narratives will change at whiplash speeds in full force against it. Remember those awful ‘Trump cages’ at the border? They were build by Obama who also set the policy, Trump got the public disgust. Now things have escelated drasatically under Biden to inhumane levels and mediapolitical -and thus societal- outrage is minimal to nowhere to be found. No one cheered the efforts of Trump to retrieve the troops from Afghanistan and Syria (foolishly dangerous! the poor people there!), nor disgusted the efforts of the US senate and intelligence community to block these efforts and forcefully postpone them into the Biden-era. Yet, when Biden postpones the troop removal deadline of may 1st finally allowed to be set by Trump to now September 11th (to surely later cancel after some attack that is going to beg us to stay there), he is praised far and wide and it is presented as his initiative even.
I could rant for many pages more as I surprise myself time and again over the strength of the mediapolitical narratives over the western masses as the establishment conquers economic-political power and distract, provide or divide socio-culturally. Each group will self-rightously condemn the idiots of the other group, not seeing themselves as the useful idiots used as pawns by an establishment that knows how to play the game and sustains itself for another day, fed by the masses. Feel offended? Why?
So, why deconstruct beforementioned dominant ways of viewing the world in an alienating way right at the beginning of this article? (I am for a greener world, free market and prescribe to being a libertarian as well as a hippie.) Because at the sight of a practical approach, build upon an overarching philosophy for all these groups, Bitcoin offers the narrative to come together -if we can see beyond the self-righteousness of our groups and accustomed ways of thinking. Deconstruction is key to move our bubbles of language, narratives, politics and so on beyond our current cultures, state and our fiat game.
The fiat game
The closer to the money creation, the easier it is to obtain money and the more political power this translates to. It’s the government and their government bonds, the private banks and their interest-bearing mortgages out of thin air and it’s the multinationals with minimal interest on loans. And as citizens and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) we either blame the government for its power or the financials and multinationals for their power that destructs society. Yet, we are blind in seeing how we feed them both via the simple use of fiat money and the political divide that keeps the masses busy with either dirty commies or dirty capitalists around to bother about.
Yet, look at the cost to the working class and their environment. Currency games do not offer a fair reflection of the cost of labour and resources as the US world reserve currency is linked to the scarce asset of oil as its only pricing mechanism, making the petrodollar. This incentives the use of a centralist source, oil, to run the world as this maintains hegemony in oil exporting countries as well as forcing demand (and thus value) for the US dollar as the worlds monetary centralist source to get to oil. Further artificial oil scarcity resulting in higher oil prices, feeds demand for the US dollar and enables the dependencies on that dollar for sustaining the broader western empire. This globally enforced reliance on these two false scarcities creates power that needs global military defending to sustain it.
Fortunately for those playing the great game, these go hand in hand as demand for petrol-kept-scarce creates an immense global demand for dollars that can be printed out of thin air to sustain empire.
Western governments profit via the strong power of their currencies in the political, economic and military spheres. All at no cost to the game’s active players.
The financial sector profits of loan demand within the west from its citizens and from without with loan demands by countries, hindering both to grow out of their weak position.
And the multinational profits from cheap resources and labour abroad and propaganda (sorry, advertisement) creates the need to sell these products overpriced to its western audiences.
Unfortunately for those playing the game only in supporting it via the use of US dollars or oil, willingly or not, but not by choosing how to play -a.k.a. the 99%-, this strong US dollar disempowers the individual. A strong US dollar prices American made products out of the market and kills their manufacturing jobs and replaces it with easy credit and a service sector that sells import. Interest-bearing credit that now needs your hours in labour in return. The weak currencies see their resources plundered with little in return and earns in labour can not translate into a fair living in this costly world of dollar priced imported products. Undermining the fiat US fiat based world order, is not to be mistaken as anti-american, it undermines the grip those few have over humans in many corners of this globe, including and most prominently the Americans.
I might someday get to write something on the absurdity of environmental claims made about bitcoin itself, which are arguments that stand by themselves. However, I just wanted to stand still now and point out that the alternative to bitcoin presented above must also be considered since this never translates well into a catchy soundbite or even simple explanation as it implies an understanding of a greater picture. A well educated person -that is the intellectual bubble reading or watching authoritative mediapolitical sources, I’d say the gullible ones- would place you in a conspiracy corner and the hippie wanting to actually practically change the world wants to know about permaculture, a forest garden, arts or the such, not money and politics. ‘How disgusting.’
(Not to autoblame those working in money and politics, we ALL sustain the game: After the technologists, it is the critical minded in the financial world that helped bitcoin to be where it is. For them too an opportunity was finally presented to those that had to see the destructive reaches play out with little but gold -whom’s game was rigged too and lacked ease and network effect- to offer a way out. We are in this together.)
So now is a good time. It is fiat money supporting gross currency inequalities over a long period of time that have it that moving resources from Africa to China to make parts, to be assembled in Mexico which can than export cheaply to the USA. It is an inefficient system that needs the presence of the US’s huge military presence (the worlds largest consumer of oil) and allies to sustain it. This inefficient, militarily defended way of organising society then fights against any form of decentralisation that would immensely benefit the environment. Additionally lives get destroyed and western resources spent in the empire’s regime change wars that than need resources to rebuild the country or provide socio-cultural tensions as refugees rebuild within the west. This is the ecologic alternative you would defend instead of bitcoin. Or in all likelihood, your green party for that matter.
Enter the multipolar world.
As multipolarity in our geopolitics holds up a mirror more and more for the west and their fiat stronghold, it helps break down this hegemonic grip of western governments to within as well -even if ultimately it would only be in their breakdown. But what is the use of breaking down the hegemon, to have it join ranks in a new field of several smaller hegemons? Although I see this ultimately benefit every corner of the globe, is this really the best that we can do? What if a new multipolar balance gets lost again? Are the other poles any more appealing?
The beauty of multipolarity in our geopolitics is that power gets decentralised from the unipolarity that was. Still, we can’t participate in the great games played out with the economic and political power we feed them via our monetary system and our votes. Although the monetary subsidises most foul play for the latter, the political arena -be it by the dominance of this arena in a fiat-world or the lobby of those with easy money.
In these last couple of decades you could say China sacrificed a generation to low income, harsh working conditions to allocate enough capital from the dollar based system to alleviate their population from poverty and provide the infrastructure for future growth. As cheap renewables, international infrastructure for Earasian export and a rising middle class allow China to raise the wages substantially, it becomes less dependant on Western consumption.
Where China breaks the economic unipolar position, Russia breaks the military unipolar position with weaponry the US currently can not match. The export of the S-300 and S-400 Russian defensive missile systems throughout Eurasia neutralises the missile and air dominance of the USA/west.
As unfettered will can be imposed less and less, the importance of this break from unipolarity can not be understated as I wrote about before. Yet, it pales in comparison to the possibilities technological decentral abundance provide the individual as the internet, solar and now bitcoin break dependencies on any game. A choice on how to support and participate in our environment and its societal structures is given back. Freedom as the ancient Greeks understood it, is measured in autonomy and free time, not purchasing power and rhetoric.
Enter Internet.
As the core protocol for the internet, TCP/IP enabled peer-to-peer (P2P) and thus decentralised communication between the individuals of this globe. Since then surely attempts have been made to centralise this via ISPs restricting access or Big Tech in the west/Big Government in the east centralising our data into new products of centralised power and control, the protocol itself though remains as the foundational layer enabling all else. And where VPNs provide a technological answer to censorship of the first, technology will provide an answer to centralisation in the latter. Bitcoin runs on the principals of this foundational layer for information exchange. As bitcoin requires no middlemen to transact and sustaining the network is open for anyone to participate in, it is decentralisation brought to the level of the individual.
Internet later enabled the web shop, this decentral promise too soon got captured by the likes of Amazon and facilitated by government of course. Relieved of paying taxes and establishing cheap shipping contracts, this platform soon led to the centralisation of the shopping experience with the support of the masses, once again leaving the middle class and their SMEs up for grabs. In a different society (read: non-fiat), a P2P alternative or differently oriented qualitative alternatives would have empowered the real economy, SMEs and individuals. But that’s not how our society is permitted to organise. Monetary dependance, the lack of a free money market, imposes dependence in all ways of organising society.
However, ‘Enter Multipolarity’ and ‘Enter Internet’ had found its first large scale reply to the ever growing centralisation since the second world war, accelerated by the petrodollar: AliExpress (consumer)/Alibaba(SME’s). Unlike Amazon which initially only sold products themselves, Ali (referring to both), broke this. Ali does not sell any products themselves, but allows SME’s (and large) to offer their products to the world, cutting out many a middle man: the importers, western multinational, the propogandists for consumption (advertisers/branding), the point of sale points (be it centralised online or brick and morter), the service industry, …
The strength of the internet found the strength of the multipolar agenda as China subsidised the export in the form of shipment costs as a very effective means of creating productivity within. The branded household article could now be found at similar quality from a Chinese store directly for several times less the price. Even less so if you choose an even cheaper alternative. And such newfound diversity in options delivered for free! Whole western sectors for jobs were swept aside, as western consumers and SME’s found their purchasing power rise and wages in China grew immensely. A tax free import-limit of €22 is one of the ways the European Union tried to slow this down. As of 1 July 2021 the tax free import limit will be €0.
Enter Solar.
Whilst information can be exchanged freely between individuals over the internet, historically we have been reliant on centralised solutions for our electricity and spikes in grid usage have shown to be effective for government to shut down those growing marijuana, as surely it would have been effective in combating electricity usage for those seeking to maintain the bitcoin network via miners. Nowadays solar and battery technology have opened this up, making efforts to combat this even on centralised power systems superfluous. The loss of unipolar grip also facilitates the ease of finding corners in this globe that would support this new mining. Resistance is futile effective -valuable even.
Furthermore, solar, undermines not only the dollar part of the petrodollar in its use for bitcoin, it of course also undermines the petro part in oil as we are less and less reliant on both.
Enter Bitcoin.
For those captured by the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) over government breakdown. Don´t. De-attach from the idea of strength they have and link this inversely to the growth of bitcoin and understand how the one undermines the other, where the other can only hinder. Athough we have passed the station to hinder with vested interests by also the powerful having jumped on the bitcoin train and fear of missing out on even country level to have grounded themselves. Also, possibly de-attach from your position in life as part of this game. The invite is open, you don’t have to loose. As for the environmental FUD, these arguments mostly are so out of context or simply wrong that a search for critical arguments is easy to find -beyond the bubble of traditional mediapolitical sources that is. DuckDuckGo search for Nic Carter for starters.
For many, Bitcoin starts as this volatile gamble in pursuit of more money. Many a trader will loose money and leave frustrated, where for some logarithmic enters the vocabulary which sees the price development as a steady growth and volatility as adoption/growth spurts. Trust over time makes one understand not to trade, but to HODL (hold on for dear life) to make some real money. As the HODLer starts understanding the ways Bitcoin disrupts the way we have unfairly organised society to the benefit of those that need it less and less, the revolutionary is born. Demonstrating in front of parliament is no longer revolutionary, it shows the handing over of your power/autonomy to ask them to do something different within the game, supporting the game. The supposed strength of the mediapolitical narrative, the masses of useful idiots, the power of institutions and multinationals, none of it bothers, frustrates or dispairs you as much as they once did. HODL as an approach to making some real money has moved to the true HODL: never sell if life permits. It is your interest-bearing savings. Bitcoin has now become a participation in a new future of which more and more existing participants will become ‘true HODLers’ and for a million and one reasons this can grow, since for many things we see that ‘Bitcoin fixes this’.
Fiat breeds the inequality, not capitalism. As those close to the center have (almost) free money to access, they also have interest-income where the masses have interest-bearing debt. These both fund centralisation in every other corner of society, the petrodollar being merely a successful tool. As the strength of centralised powers ease, many ways of organising fall back on not the decision making game players of before, but rely on the participation of the participants of society. Going the other way, ever growing centralisation leads to ever bigger negative consequences for ever more people with no say where those that make the decisions care less and less as feedbackloops don’t reach back or do not have enough monetary consequences to care about it.
As the centralised strength of the mediapolitical lessens, diversity and criticism flourish in comparison. Politics will lie till the end of time and will find a medium to spread that most efficiently. But if politics decides over less and needs consent over more, the institute itself, but also the means (wages) to convince will ask for much more creativity in this process. Not the ease we are giving them now. Also, the theater becomes less interesting as a whole. That gullible -our educated from before- falling victim to giving ear to the mediapolitical might serve a much more societaly constructive role. ‘Bitcoin fixes this.’
Caught in debt, that hippie anarchist from before seeking self-sufficiency in solar, permaculture and food forests is as the liberal seeking personal autonomy. Only once we are free, in time and autonomy, we can choose how to develop individually and form and contribute to the communities we seek. As with solar as with bitcoin, it empowers national, regional, but above all, individual autonomy. ‘Bitcoin fixes this’
For as far as economical thought is still part of the current political agenda, it has us divided over left and right, communist and capitalist. If you vie for or against one or the other, stop being the useful idiot. Sure, both are inefficient 19th century centralised concepts as a result of the birth of the nation state and industrial age that have not been updated to the possibilities of our current time, but that is irrelevant as both concepts are sustained by the fiat monetary system that sets the conditions for this game. Both are ideologies on how to manage the concept of scarcity -in each extremes: winner takes all, or all equal for each-, yet it is the fiat monetary system kept alive by the petrodollar that breeds the scarcity they seek to manage. And scarcity creates centralisation, dependency and thus power. Let’s work on that first.
As GDP measures the amount of money that flows through society, money needs to flow. Abundance kills GDP. Solar technology kills GDP. Autonomy kills GDP. Disease, destruction, increase GDP. The monetary measure does not measure quality, GDP measures inefficiency and breeds consumerism I’d say. Secondly, this of course has ecological consequences on a finite planet. However monetarily, the more finite something is, the more monetary value -a killing feedbackloop. But thirdly and most importantly, the measure itself breeds scarcity. As inflation is needed to pay back an ever increasing debt, it devalues your wages. The abundance of money created, creates scarcity for each as money devalues. Even if your wages keep up, the prices around you still inflate. As life becomes more expensive, more and more people are sucked into having to earn money.
And so the underlying stupidity is that we are all working -fighting for survival to cover basic needs and comfort-, for an unlimited measure -fiat moneys lowering value by printing- of which the 99% have ever less value of to express themselves in a world that can provide basic needs in abundance, but will always be out of monetary reach. When apples are in abundance in your community, they become free of price, losing all monetary value within that community or at least become really cheap depending on it’s value for other possible uses. When Russia however stopped importing European apples, the European governments subsidised the farmers and destroyed the apples or otherwise prevented them from entering the market to save the price of apples. They bought these apples from farmers with their free fiat money. Distorting the free market, distorting abundance and taking your freedom.
To facilitate moving to a world of abundance, we need a measure that is limited, like bitcoin. Otherwise the unlimited creation of the measure has us chasing our abundance in ever more time and resources offered to close the gap in fiat shortcomings via debt and devaluing currency. The real world and our real hours are traded in for a fictional shortcomings in fiat money that can only result in a translation to real scarcity in hours and resources. Claiming, as most, that GDP growth is the aim is as delusional and close-minded as claiming bitcoin is bad for the environment in the greater scheme of things. So, last time, ‘Bitcoin fixes this’.
Beyond fixing things, bitcoin allows us to imagine a better tomorrow and allows us to participate in it and help pull that forward. It moves us closer and closer to equal opportunity as the inequalities translated from fiat even out over generations, simply by its usage in the free market. There is no more centralising monetary force in the background.
Truly Multipolar
Decentralisation can provide our basic needs at little investment of our labour and makes the rest voluntary. There will always be other needs and wants and things we see value in. However, price will be dependant on the willingness of a person or group of people to come together to make something for value, not on forced participation by debt or dependency in basic needs. Although radical to say in our zeitgeist, I think history will look back at our need to participate our great game to guarantee our survival as the most elaborate slave system ever devised. Let’s move from surviving, to living.
In the process of dependency fading, democracy will strengthen, as we secure our basic needs and we choose our work circumstances. A simple unemployment benefit now during these covid-times in the USA shows that much work is not out of passion or ambition. Without this fading centralised dependency in ways of organising, giving us manager above manager, boss above boss, layers will fade and top decision will make less and less impact. Negative (un)intended bad consequences derived from top decisions create negative feedback loops that reach back more over shorter distances and teaches humility and responsibility towards the community. It could even have free men require fair share of ownership in return for labour. Oh, and let’s not discount ourselves from unintended consequences as we use fiat, get around on oil, participate in the inefficient market of globalisation and sacrifice too much of our free time for our fiat-needs.
It is possible to move towards a society where work is for fulfilment, curiosity or pursuit of comfort and happiness or any intrinsic motivation and not or minimally for basic necessities as housing, food, water electricity and mobility, as centralised systems loose their extrinsic pressure. Even such an institution as schooling can be at choice or given in many forms that give way to the development of each to his or her interest with a world of information at their feet.
Yes, you might see this work for yourself but not the other. ‘They’ need civilisation to bang the conformity into them. Yet, as we move from a world where we all seek to benefit of the other, trust might come to show us once again that we all seek fulfilment and pursuit of happiness as we move away from surviving a debt-based society to living as a free individuals choosing our place in community.
For one that can be the Greek classics, for another a technological niche or for yet another the craft, art or trade. Whatever captures the young mind. Your trade though is rewarded for its necessity/contribution, not its monetary expression in wage. Your future path less dictated. Let’s see if free individuals still value someones ten advisery board functions averaging 20 hours work per year still as much as the plumber in comparison. Hey, and why not just help someone for free if you want? Would not that be a nice option too?
Not wanting to grasp beyond the imagination of what can be, let’s start to see what is broken and how ‘bitcoin fixes this’. And as we free ourselves, we can start to be there for those around us. We don’t have to imagine perfect, knowing we can achieve a hell of a lot better. That’s all the argument we need. I invite you to participate and invest in (y)our tomorrow, it will be the most revolutionary click your mouse has ever had. Let’s change the game.
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My aim is not to bring expertise on any matter, but to provide a general understanding of a complex world in an accessible way to many. May it bridge societal bubbles and expertises to common understandings or at least dialogues in an ever more polarised society. If you value this article or see value in sharing this article with others and wish to support me, any donations are appreciated immensely.
BTC 17ct8vZhvAUeWWEdMCTDzDXnnu62cxHFDW
ETH 0x6573168e10ef9a599a41585fc3792be42bd73099
LTC LWgw4bqenR8N1qDZCS6sZtWnPHNozL6Byb
ARRR zs1s3wqgad9rq3x7vv33usvp9s4qer4tnaves7rap47xuwc999vptrw95y5vk0t93ktmeemu2gnmq9
P.S.: Ethereum and some others are a wonderful story for another day.
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