Why Veterans Find Bitcoin Compelling – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Luke Groom is a West Point graduate, Army engineer officer, JD-MBA candidate at Northwestern and part-time strategy assistant at Marathon Digital Holdings. His views do not represent those of any of his organizations.
Within the Bitcoin community, US military service members are sometimes viewed with suspicion. I don’t know where this suspicion comes from. Perhaps the libertarian elements of society are opposed to things that remind them of Big Government. Perhaps Left-wing elements in society are against things that remind them of guns and violence. Maybe people think we’re infiltrating the Bitcoin ranks to secretly advance the interests of the military industrial complex. I can only speculate. For me, the transition from service member to Bitcoiner is obvious. I will outline three reasons: freedom, responsibility and code. Throughout, I will refer to “Military Service Members” and “Veterans” interchangeably, because they are the same people, just at different times of their lives.
First, the key value that drives many young men and women to join the military is the same key value that Bitcoin promotes. If you ask someone why they chose to serve in the military, and continue to dig into their answer, somewhere in there is almost always a desire to promote freedom and liberty. At its core, Bitcoin is freedom money. It is free from degradation, free from political influence, free from seigniorage, free from centralization, free from manipulation and free from coercion. Most people join the military because they value freedom. They value free markets. They want to fight for the “Land of the Free”. Sure, actual results may vary, but the desire is there.
Consider that we have centrally controlled fiat money, capable of debasement, political influence, theft via seigniorage and manipulated pricing via interest rate fixing. Consider that fiat money is at least half of essentially every transaction. That means we not only have a free market for money; we don’t have a free market for anything! Imagine the disillusionment of a service member who has devoted his life to fighting for freedom, only to realize that we live in this unfree, manipulated market world. Then they learn about Bitcoin. Becoming a Bitcoiner means voting with your energy in favor of free markets and all the freedom that Bitcoin represents. They realize that if they put their energy into Bitcoin, whether their purchasing power goes up or down, they are fighting for freedom, just like their inspiration to join the military to begin with.
Second, most veterans want increased personal responsibility. The military is great for teaching young people responsibility. Get up. Make your bed. Training. Go to work. Use the right thing. Be on time. Be reliable. Be responsible. Lead. Follow. Take care of your friends. The armed forces have built-in coercive functions to teach responsibility.
However, there comes a time when you want to take off the training wheels. You want to show your personal responsibility without someone looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re doing it right. You will have more than five options for your pension investments. You want to shout, “I’m a peacock, you have to let me fly!” Bitcoin aligns with that desire. You need to do your own research. You must take responsibility for custody (or responsibility for counterparty risk). You have to accept the volatility of the conversion rate to fiat. There is no safety net in the Bitcoin market, and the increased personal responsibility is liberating for many veterans.
Lastly, every veteran swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. As I have progressed through law school, I have developed a greater understanding of that document. We live in a polarized country. I have seen much of that country first hand, living in Chicago, New York, Missouri, North Carolina and Washington. I have lived in the city, the suburbs and small towns. I have worked with millionaires and with people who have not put their name to it. I have shared meals with people who have lost friends fighting overseas and with people who have protested at army bases. Our citizens look different, sound different and have very different values. With citizens so diverse, what holds this country together?
I would argue that the Constitution holds this country together and defines who we are as a nation. The Constitution is less than 5,000 words of code that set in motion the protocol that is the United States. We have since seen that code soft fork in the form of amendments to the constitution. We’ve seen layers upon layers of government built on top of that code, in similar ways that layers are built on Bitcoin. Some might successfully argue that we have seen the code ignored or misinterpreted beyond recognition. However, this code is at the heart of our country. Every service member swears to support and defend, not a man, not a military-industrial complex, but the Constitution. For veterans who have already vowed to possibly give their lives for one code, the step to embrace code-based money is natural.
Finally, my Veterans Day wouldn’t be complete without thanking a veteran or two. Thank you, Anthony Pompliano and Preston Pysh. Without you two, I could still think that Bitcoin was “probably nothing”. Happy Veterans Day.
This is a guest post by Luke Groom. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
