This opinion editorial was written by Frank Nuessle. Frank is a former TV executive, university professor, and publishing entrepreneur.
This essay is the second part of an essay. It examines the lessons that Samuel Adams gave us about the American Revolution. And how that same framing can help us to create the vibrant American bitcoin economy we all know is just a few years away. Part one can be found here here.
Because the United States has most to lose in the coming destruction of the U.S. petrodollar system, the focus of my research and conversation is an attempt to answer this question: “What is the social system design that will allow for the viral growth of a bitcoin economy in the United States?” The story of the American bitcoin economy is critical to the viral development of a sound money economy.
I believe that Samuel Adams destroyed the “divine right of kings” paradigm with his framing, just as bitcoin must destroy the “divine right of fiat money” paradigm if it is to be successful.
It is important to understand the mindset of average European and American colonists in the 1760s. In Western civilization at that time, a king was considered a god and was to adore as such. The 500-year-old European rule of the divine right of kings paradigm captured the imagination of humanity and ruled Europe for 500.
At that time in Europe, there was a Spanish Empire as well as a British Empire and French Empire. Each had its own king. This explains why Europe was constantly at war. How many divine kings could one world have?
Adams destroyed that paradigm because he recognized that America’s struggle for independence was a spiritual struggle above all. Adams believed that self-government was essential for self-government. He believed that freedom and self-government were the most important qualities for self governance. The essential qualities of self-government were integrity, respect for all people, and selfless service to the community.
How can Samuel Adams’ framing of the American fight for independence serve to break the current grip on the American paradigm of the divine right of fiat money?
Bitcoiners need to find new ways to incorporate values into money, just as Adams was able do so.
A successful American Bitcoin economy will incorporate social value into money and create participative social structures that foster place-based communities as well as local economic structures.
I suggest we label this new paradigm the “divine right of community,” where money serves the whole and not vice versa. Money is a tool. It is not meant to be a pedestal.
Dee Hock, founder of VISA, envisioned such a community in his early days. wrote, “The organization of the future will be the embodiment of community based on shared purpose calling to the higher aspirations of the people.”
Hock was the president of a small bank in Seattle in 1968 when he took control of a failing credit card company. franchised By Bank of America. He founded VISA in three years. This was to revive the fledgling credit card industry, which was at the time in decline. VISA was the largest commercial enterprise in the world.
In his 1999 book, “The Birth of the Chaordic Age,” Hock wrote, “Ahead, the possibility of regeneration of individuality, liberty, community, and ethics such as the world has never known, and a harmony with nature, with one another, and with the divine intelligence, such as the world has always dreamed.”
The challenge to fulfilling Hock’s vision is that we all are unwittingly still living out of the paradigm that the robber barons left us: Financial capital is sacred above all else. This scarcity mentality is also the biggest obstacle to convincing Bitcoin skeptics.
A direct assault on a skeptic’s beliefs only intensifies their fear and resistance. Something has to change. As Bitcoin change agents, we must address this deeper thing, the scarcity and wound at its heart.
As with all living things, paradigms can live for a long time. As the fiat currency paradigm ages, serious cracks begin to appear.
My friend who has died Joseph Chilton Pierce used to say, “A miracle is the name we give to the crack that allows the light to shine through from a larger, more radiant reality.” This crack says not only that the bigger reality is coming soon, but that it is more than you can imagine. It is both a glimpse as well as a promise.
The Bitcoin Revolution starts when we allow ourselves the freedom to imagine a Bitcoin Revolution. different kind of economyA different kind of world. Bitcoiners need to invite you into this larger, more beautiful universe.
Bitcoin miracle workers can ignite the American Revolution just like Samuel Adams did with his paradigm-busting vision for freedom.
Frank Nuessle contributed this guest post. These opinions are not necessarily those of BTC Inc.