The past 100 years has seen the advent and spread of the disease with the highest death count of all time: the military industrial complex. The most evil, murderous, relentless force the world has ever seen is the partnership between defense contractors, weapons manufacturers, and R&D developers with the state. This dynamic duo of death relies on a continuous process of mass production, taxation, inflation funded borrowing, bullshit crises overseas, nationalistic idiocy, and mass killings in the name of "democracy" or "anti-terrorism" – the systematization of mass theft and mass death. The problem is one of institutions that are fundamentally flawed with perverse incentives and perverse powers. That means the only solution is to work around the system.
The project that is leading this cause of bypassing the system is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a crypto-currency that resides entirely in digital space – the online world. The pernicious fingers of Federal Reserve and the big bank cartels don’t touch Bitcoin. Plus, since Bitcoin is untraceable, it is much easier to keep transactions unreported and, therefore, untaxed. When you save your Bitcoin, it doesn’t reap interest for the banks. When the Federal Reserve pursues another round of quantitative easing, your Bitcoin doesn’t depreciate in value. It is an alternative currency in the true sense of the word.
Specifically, Bitcoin is the alternative to state capitalism – the institutional intersection of mass production corporations that rely on state cartelization, government financed and controlled industry, fiat currency, and, worst of all, the military industrial complex. These four institutions simultaneously reinforce the power and influence of each other, and rely on each other for their very existence.
The government created barriers to entry, such as safety and quality regulations, licensing requirements, zoning requirements, intellectual property laws, and more, prop up the mass production corporations that are now immune to any competition since startups and up-and-comers are suppressed by the iron fist of the state. The mass production corporations keep their system of value extraction and inefficiency going by selling their excess quantities to the government through public works projects, Keynesian schemes, and, most importantly, the empire. The empire, in turn, violently creates and protects new markets for the mass production corporations, while, at the same time, maintaining obedience and nationalism at home.
State capitalism couldn’t exist without each vital piece of the puzzle to keep the scam going, yes. But more importantly, state capitalism couldn’t exist without the tacit support and obedience of the people it screws over every day. If people support the troops, pay their taxes, follow the law, use American dollars, the power structure is kept running. The so-called upright citizen is the Man’s best friend, while also being the Man’s best slave. As long as the "upright citizen" keeps treading the hamster wheel of state capitalism, the military industrial complex thrives.
Bitcoin, however, has the potential to liberate the slave.
The traits of the upright citizen – supporting the troops, paying taxes, following the law, and using American dollars – are all put in jeopardy with enough Bitcoin users. That is, Bitcoin has the potential to stop the hamster wheel, burning the whole damn system to the ground.
Unfortunately the pool of nationalistic solidarity (aka racism) never seems to run dry. And there is usually a new war or intervention every few years to fill it back up again. Those "support the troops" bumper stickers never seem to go away, either. We can fight the ideological battle all we want, which is a valuable and worthy fight in itself. But the magic of Bitcoin is that it challenges the institutions themselves. With enough support, it can become real, tangible threat to state capitalism.
If enough people utilize Bitcoin for under the table exchanges, it can make a serious dent in government revenue. The more transactions take place using Bitcoin without the government’s knowledge, the less tax is generated. After enough time, this can become a real threat to the state. So Bitcoin, as a threat to taxation, also acts as a threat to supporting the troops.
You rob the state of its tax money at home and you rob it of its blood money abroad.
The more people save using Bitcoin, the less power that the banking cartels and the Federal Reserve elites have over you and your finances. It transfers power from the inflation factories to the individual. It makes them immune to the Fed’s quantitative easing. This threatens the whole monetary system. Bitcoin is the arch nemesis to a vital part of state capitalism and the military industrial complex: fiat currency. It will take a significant change in modern investing for Bitcoin to gain the upper hand, but it’s possible.
Bitcoin also has the potential to pose a threat to the traits of "follow the law" and "use American dollars." Obviously it eats away at the latter since the whole point is to get out of the dollar in favor of other currencies. But, by extension, this also eats away at the former. The more doubt you create about the US dollar and the monetary system in general (which harms the fiat currency part of state capitalism), the less respect the law garners. The more people that use a currency that is considered outside the system or alternative, the less people will support the actual system.
The power of Bitcoin in challenging the statist quo is exponential. Bitcoin takes a step in the right direction by facilitating market transactions that aren’t interfered with by the state. It has the power to corrupt every upright citizen in the country. To create doubt about the efficacy and morality of state capitalism. To starve the beast. To build a culture of independence, rather than obedience, where your finances and income are yours and yours alone. To build new and alternative institutions where free people provide for themselves and don’t prop up an international death machine.
It’s vital to remember that Bitcoin is an inanimate object. It won’t topple the military industrial complex by itself. It will require conscious human action on the part of millions of individuals. We are not at that point yet. But with enough support, crypto-currency could eventually pose a real threat. It merely has potential during the present. But that potential is limitless.
For those who want to learn more about Bitcoin, visit this website for a short introductory video and other information. If you would like to contribute, Antiwar.com accepts donations in Bitcoin. Plus leading Bitcoin proponent Roger Ver has pledged to match all Bitcoin donations to Antiwar.com during our summer fund drive, up to a total of $10,000 USD value of Bitcoin. Even the smallest donation helps in the fight against the military industrial complex.
Cory Massimino is the Associate Editor of DL Magazine, a Students For Liberty Campus Coordinator, and a Young Voices Advocate. He is a philosophy student who has also written for such publications as the Daily Caller, the Center for a Stateless Society, and The Libertarian. Massimino lives in Central Florida.
