{"id":10362,"date":"2022-03-29T23:15:15","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T23:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci029d64dc800024a3"},"modified":"2025-01-28T17:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T17:08:22","slug":"bitcoin-is-not-democratic-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/bitcoin-is-not-democratic-part-five","title":{"rendered":"The Age Of Meritocracy \u2014 Bitcoin Is Not Democratic Part Five"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p>Thinking about the effect Bitcoin has and will have on the organization of human society sends one down many rabbit holes. <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/authors\/aleksandarsvetski\">We\u2019ve been down a few already<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the final part of this series, we\u2019re going to explore the idea of a \u201cmeritocracy,\u201d alongside some flavors of that model which I believe Bitcoin makes possible.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, these are thought experiments. I do not have all of the answers and in fact, may not have any of the answers \u2013 the idea is that we begin thinking about these things seriously now. Projecting stupidity like dEmOcRaCy onto Bitcoin and more importantly onto a future Bitcoin standard is just a recipe for failure. <\/p>\n<p>On our journey toward the \u201cage of merit,\u201d we must always remember the real struggle: The option to advance through economic means or political means.<\/p>\n<p>We must remember that the real distinction between the state and anarchy can be boiled down to the contrast between the \u201cgiven\u201d (centralized\/mandatory system) versus the \u201cgathered\u201d (decentralized\/voluntary system).<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin is our opportunity to swing the pendulum away from the tyranny of the given and back to the possibility of the gathered.<\/p>\n<p>I hope this series has served as a wake-up call, especially for those who\u2019ve tied their identity to the idea of Bitcoin being democratic.<\/p>\n<p>Now, before we kick in, let\u2019s whet our appetites with this <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/PGMQZEIXBMs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">brilliant short video<\/a> I was sent last week. It reminds us why the first three parts of this series, in particular, were written:<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"PGMQZEIXBMs\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"George Ought to Help\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PGMQZEIXBMs?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The video links off to another short video called \u201cSex &amp; Taxes.\u201d You should bookmark and watch them both.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s begin.<\/p>\n<h2>Work<\/h2>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to get into the \u201cmetaphysics of work\u201d here, so I\u2019ll simply point out that work is the basis of productivity and productivity the basis of progress. You can\u2019t have a society without people working.<\/p>\n<p>Work \u2192 Productivity \u2192 Progress \u2192 Society<\/p>\n<p>To show how broken the current world really is, contrast this basic progression with the fact that you cannot simply fly to any country and work for someone.<\/p>\n<p>These democratic, politically driven institutions we call governments are not interested in economic reality or productivity, but in moronic protectionism so that the lemmings who voted to keep them in power are able to continue subsisting off welfare and handouts.<\/p>\n<p>Cyberspace was the first realm to transcend the tentacles of the idiot state. It enabled people to work for others and add value, irrespective of their nationality or location.<\/p>\n<p>But even with the ability to transcend space and place, the meddling of the state via its influence on the banking and payments system (as we\u2019ve seen in the recent Russia-hysteria), has made that victory only partial. Your ability to get paid is dependent upon permission from your overlords, who want to tag you, brand you and file your details away so they can \u201clegally\u201d rob you of a portion of your money later.<\/p>\n<p>Simply getting a bank account in a territory in which you\u2019re not a \u201clegal resident\u201d is nigh on impossible. Working is another level of impossibility that requires mountains of paperwork and months of wasted man-hours in bureaucratic processing and begging.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, Bitcoin fixes this. Try it yourself. Download a wallet, secure your keys, give someone an address to pay you for your work, or product, or service. Simple. Value for value. No middlemen, no permission, no wastage of anyone\u2019s precious time.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin inverts the madness of the status quo, where you have to beg for permission first. It enables people to work, build wealth and one day, when governance evolves into fee-for-service, you will pay for that which you want \u2014 like any normal customer would. <\/p>\n<p>Want to live in the nicest city? No problem; it\u2019s a higher membership fee. Want to live cheaper? By all means; there will be a \u201cliving product\u201d for that too.<\/p>\n<p>On a Bitcoin standard, this ability to live and work anywhere \u2014 for anyone, without permission \u2014 becomes the actual standard, both online and in meatspace.<\/p>\n<p>The notion of a \u201csocial security number\u201d or a \u201cwork permit\u201d is thrown out the window because (a) it will be utterly unenforceable online, and (b) citadel operators are looking for more customers, and are incentivized to have productive and competent members to join the ranks of the businesses operating within their borders.<\/p>\n<p><em>This is where we\u2019re going; and where we\u2019re going, we don&#8217;t need roads.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>The Age Of Merit<\/h2>\n<p>Work and merit are inherently linked. <\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin\u2019s relationship with energy use at the network level, coupled with its cryptographic approach to preserving property rights at the meta level, result in a far deeper relationship to work than what many initially notice, and therefore also its relationship to merit.<\/p>\n<p>As such, Bitcoin\u2019s existence will tilt both individual human behavior and structural societal orientation more toward productivity, progress and most importantly, merit.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s funny coming full circle to this idea because it\u2019s actually how <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/how-bitcoin-abolishes-democracy\">part one<\/a> of the series began. My argument was that \u201cBitcoin is meritocratic.\u201d While I\u2019ve come to realize that this statement is not entirely accurate in and of itself (Bitcoin is more complex, and not strictly meritocratic) what is accurate is that relationships and social coordination will have to adapt to more meritocratic \u201cmetas\u201d in order to thrive. There is a powerful idea here. Bitcoin is almost like a specter, keeping us accountable (in all senses of the word), reminding us of the middle way.<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, what <em>is<\/em> a \u201cmeritocracy\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Before we explore the answer to that question, it might be helpful to get clear on what it is <em>not<\/em> \u2014 because remember: where we\u2019re going, we don\u2019t need roads. If we get confused and build a bunch of metaphorical \u201croads\u201d on metaphorical oceans, we\u2019re only going to get in our own way.<\/p>\n<p>Projecting the consciousness and frameworks of our current paradigm forward helps nobody.<\/p>\n<h2>Faux mEriToCrAcY<\/h2>\n<p>We&#8217;ve all heard the term, but does anyone really understand what it means? At the risk of giving yourself a mild aneurysm, I suggest you <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/sSIv-oGZNxY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">watch the video below<\/a>, not because it will help you understand the concept of meritocracy, but that it will show you why it\u2019s <em>so<\/em> goddamn important to have a foundation in Bitcoin, Austrian economics or anarcho-capitalism before espousing any sort of political ideas.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"sSIv-oGZNxY\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Meritocracy Now\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sSIv-oGZNxY?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>I know I\u2019m being harsh, but I do it tongue-in-cheek. I actually reached out to the guy and since he made that video, he did find Bitcoin \u2014 which I am happy for. In fact, if I look back on my naivety from 2014, I too would\u2019ve believed some of the things he said. Why? Because they sound nice.<\/p>\n<p>This is why the first four parts of this series were written. We all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Some of us, those who can partially recognize the problem but completely misdiagnose it, are prone to slap a series of illogical, inconsistent ideas together and become a potentially greater threat than an ally. We must be sharp and consistent in our critiques in order to attract the most able and intelligent to our cause. The alternative is being followed by the long tail of lemmings whose opinion doesn\u2019t matter in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Vague platitudes or impossible claims like \u201cequality of opportunity for everyone\u201d and \u201cthe best education is a right for every young child,\u201d are signs that the necessary work has not been done yet.<\/p>\n<p>Arbitrarily defining government actors as \u201cexperts in their field\u201d who are \u201cdriven by reason and science\u201d is not what makes something meritocratic. In fact, it is a pathway to hell \u2014 as evidenced in the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>In the absence of studies of morality and ethics (much of what traditional religions explore), the secular state simply becomes the new god, and obedience the religion. <\/p>\n<p>Lastly, the idea of a \u201cgovernment\u201d being an institution that can competently deliver anything they\u2019ve promised is nonsense. Government and merit are two incompatible ideas. <em>Politics can only embody merit if it is economically accountable<\/em>, and so long as politics is the realm of a government that can influence economies by virtue of issuing money, we are caught in the cyclical trap from which we\u2019re now fighting our way out.<\/p>\n<p>This is why even the most sound definition of a meritocracy (something akin to an anarcho-capitalist, voluntaryist society), while great in theory, is impossible without Bitcoin. <\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin is what makes a real meritocratic mode of organization among humans possible. There is no alternative. A meritocracy requires private property, proof of work, economic consequence\/calculation, free markets and prices.<\/p>\n<p>So long as mechanisms exist to acquire, accumulate and protect wealth by virtue of politics and the socialization of bad decision-making, society will always devolve into the tyranny of mindless masses.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s dive into what the emergence of a meritocracy may look, feel and sound like.<\/p>\n<h2>Meritocracy<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the logical and economic consistencies of the various flavors of anarchism, they all seem to fall short in dealing with or utilizing the necessary emergence of hierarchies and power structures.<\/p>\n<p>Having run businesses for over a decade, and been a focal point for group outings, I am keenly aware of the need for leadership and some level of influence (power?) over the participants in a group.<\/p>\n<p>This form of power is not coercive, but it is directive and authoritative.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve written about <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/the-capital\/bitcoin-hierarchy-territory-5df097486940\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hierarchies of competence<\/a> in the past, and I believe they are a cornerstone for the healthy functioning of any group.<\/p>\n<p>The anarchic idea that there are no hierarchies is, in my opinion, misguided.<\/p>\n<p>The nuance lies in the distinction between hierarchies of competence and hierarchies of decree. The former being economic and moral in nature, while the latter being political and immoral.<\/p>\n<p>Authority, I believe, is necessary. But not just arbitrary authority; it must be earned. Think about the master and the apprentice. The master has power and influence over his apprentice by virtue of the authority he has <em>earned<\/em> over the years, honing his craft.<\/p>\n<p>Earned authority is related to merit. In order to become the best version of yourself, you must work on yourself. You must expend time and energy toward building, creating and outcompeting entropy. This manifestation of life that you exhibit in your pursuit of becoming more is my definition of merit and at the macro level is how I believe humans organize within a society most naturally.<\/p>\n<p>To a large degree, it\u2019s the underlying theme of how we\u2019ve organized ourselves over millennia, similar to how capitalism has and always will exist, no matter how much politics you obfuscate it with. Humans need to eat. Competence is the ultimate selector.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, as always, how much non-meritocratic, arbitrary decree is able to infect the system and cause it to decay by countering this organic self-organization and even reversing the momentum.<\/p>\n<p>Entropy is a bitch, and she\u2019s always there waiting for us to get in our own way. History is littered with stories of meritocratic empires brought down by the cancer of lies; the greatest and most dangerous lies being the economic ones we tell ourselves as we step ever-closer toward starvation and oblivion.<\/p>\n<p>As shown in <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/bitcoin-is-not-democratic-part-three\">part three<\/a>, when the political can influence the economic, you have a system that will diverge from reality inch by inch until it no longer maps onto any territory. It becomes worthless. The empire of meritocracy becomes the empire of lies.<\/p>\n<p>Every great collapse is a function of the deviation from territory with false maps. And false maps are always the result of hubris and willful blindness, i.e., unbounded decrees and doctrines.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s where we are today. One big empire of fraud, collapsing in on itself, under the gravity of its own stupidity and falsity.<\/p>\n<p>But\u2026the night is darkest before dawn, so it\u2019s also a time of great possibility. The fork in the road we see before us, with Bitcoin, promises to help us transcend this incessant degeneration into cancerous lies by making the prime economic laws immune to politics.<\/p>\n<p>On a short leash, political ideologies must adapt to the territory and sharpen their approach, or simply cease to exist. There are no alternatives. There is no room for fantasy. There is only correction and adaptation; similar to what life experiences as it evolves. As a result, politics must become smaller and function like a local strategy, not a global doctrine or mandate.<\/p>\n<p>This is how I think about \u201cmeritocracy,\u201d and I believe energy money \u2014 in our case, Bitcoin \u2014 is the necessary prerequisite for moving onto this modality of coexistence.<\/p>\n<h2>Meritocratic Feudalism<\/h2>\n<p>If Bitcoin moves us more toward greater \u201cmeritocratic order,\u201d what might the actual social strata or layering of such a future society look like?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve discussed the idea of meritocratic feudalism on some podcasts in the past, so I will try to elaborate here. <\/p>\n<p>First, let\u2019s clear up some terms and confusions.<\/p>\n<p>Feudalism is generally thought of as a brutish, corrupt, elitist and outdated structure from the medieval past.<\/p>\n<p>But little do the people who brandish it as such realize that we\u2019re living in a technocratic-feudalist world today. They look back upon the medieval ages with disdain and a holier-than-thou sneer, while they perform their role in a modern, more corrupt version of their supposed worst nightmare. It\u2019s embarrassing.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, because they\u2019ve not spent a minute thinking about it, and instead just swallowed whatever manure their high school indoctrinators fed them, they\u2019re oblivious to what the actual issues with feudalism were.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s <em>not<\/em> that there are classes in feudalism, but that these classes can become static and stale. That the constituents within each class remain there irrespective of the value they add, their productive capacity, their merit or lack thereof.<\/p>\n<p>Newsflash: That\u2019s the world we live in today!<\/p>\n<p>We have literal zombie companies like IBM, Hertz and Boeing operating purely because the government bailed out their incompetent asses with money stolen from you and I. In doing so, they made classes of modern feudalism even more static and our relative positions on the hierarchy more unfair.<\/p>\n<p><em>A functional society requires class mobility.<\/em> In \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uncommunist.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The UnCommunist Manifesto<\/a>,\u201d Mark Moss and I discuss dynamic equilibrium as a necessary ingredient for thriving societies. The ability to climb by virtue of merit, and the possibility of falling as a result of mistakes and errors in judgment, are both <em>absolutely critical<\/em>. It\u2019s what makes the game fair; and the only way a game continues to be played is if it is fair.<\/p>\n<p>There must be an incentive\/disincentive structure in social hierarchies that applies to <em>all <\/em>participants across all classes in order for the system to be structurally coherent and robust. If the rules are different for different players, the game begins to break down.<\/p>\n<p>This is why I\u2019ve proposed \u201cmeritocratic feudalism\u201d as an idea. It embodies the organizing principles of hierarchies and classes, alongside the dynamic nature of status, effort, merit and value.<\/p>\n<p>On a Bitcoin standard it seems as if this, and variations of it, are the kind of structures that will emerge.<\/p>\n<h2>Private Citadels<\/h2>\n<p>While meritocratic feudalism looks at what the internal structure of a particular society may be, each one is encapsulated in a \u201ccitadel\u201d of sorts.<\/p>\n<p>This does not necessarily mean a castle with a drawbridge\u2026but, then again, it also does not negate that possibility. <\/p>\n<p>The idea that we\u2019ll have city states, citadels, gated communities and perhaps more broadly, an ephemeral \u201cBitcoin citadel\u201d that transcends time, place and space (like the Jews have had for millennia) is not only compelling, but quite possible.<\/p>\n<p>The more ephemeral version is in effect how we\u2019ve started and places like Bitcoin Twitter are manifestations of these early citadels. Zones in which like-valued people come together and either agree or berate each other over small differences behind their keyboards may at times seem crazy, but they are integral to the formation of early alliances that may one day open the door to meatspace citadels.<\/p>\n<p>These IRL extensions may start out as simple communities that are built with the intention to go off-grid, becoming ever more self-sufficient and self-reliant, or, they may be more commercial in nature such as the projects the <a href=\"https:\/\/freeprivatecities.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Free Private Cities Foundation<\/a> is involved in, in Honduras.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, the central themes are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Their emergent and more voluntary nature (especially in cyberspace).<\/li>\n<li>If in meatspace, their privately run nature and local scale.<\/li>\n<li>If the territories are small enough, they may operate through some form of committee led by the wisest and most competent.<\/li>\n<li>If large enough to be cities they may then be governed by their private owners or \u201cCEO kings\u201d in a way similar to how hotels or all-inclusive resorts are today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And most importantly, the relationships between governor and governed evolves. If you\u2019ve read my work in the past, you\u2019ll be familiar with the following chart from part three of the Jordan Peterson series; \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/how-toxic-bitcoiners-are-protecting-ideals\">Bitcoin, Bitcoiners and Citadels<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/175_image1.png\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>I know it sounds like a stretch, but if you don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible, you\u2019ve not yet spent the time to appreciate the implications that Bitcoin will have on human micro and macro behavior.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, you may just be a slave to the dogma and propaganda of the current paradigm.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It would appear that the more liberty we lose, the less people are able to imagine how liberty might work. It\u2019s a fascinating thing to behold. \u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The idea of privatizing roads or water supplies sounds outlandish, even though we have a long history of both; People even wonder how anyone would be educated in the absence of public schools, as if markets themselves didn\u2019t create in America the world\u2019s most literate society in the 18th and 19th centuries.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This list could go on and on. But the problem is that the capacity to imagine freedom \u2014 the very source of life for civilization and humanity itself \u2014 is being eroded in our society and culture. The less freedom we have, the less people are able to imagine what freedom feels like, and therefore the less they are willing to fight for its restoration. \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lewrockwell.com\/2010\/01\/lew-rockwell\/do-you-believe-in-freedom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lew Rockwell<\/a>, 2010<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The idea of citadels requires you imagine a world in which idiot governments no longer exist.<\/p>\n<p>I know this can be hard for some of us, either because we\u2019re lacking courage, lacking imagination, lacking intelligence or are just overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of stupidity being spewed out from every screen and speaker around us.<\/p>\n<p>I get it. But it\u2019s our responsibility to step up in spite of these facts. If we don\u2019t rise above the madness and help ourselves, the morons in government are for damn sure not going to help us. That we can be certain of.<\/p>\n<p>The status quo cannot continue. It\u2019s falling apart. You have people barely fit for a nursing home pretending to \u201crun countries\u201d and megalomaniacs cosplaying Dr. Evil telling you to own nothing and be happy with your serving of bugs and lentils.<\/p>\n<p>These citadels are more than just an idea. They are necessary.<\/p>\n<h2>Memberships And Clubs<\/h2>\n<p>How might these citadels work? What is their economic model? How will they pay for services, defense, security and infrastructure? Will their model be bare-bones or full service?<\/p>\n<p>Again, impossible for one mere mind to know what all the variations will be, let alone the intricacies and nuances that will emerge as we learn and iterate. The only mechanism we know of that can possibly work this out is the free market.<\/p>\n<p>I believe the world will run multiple experiments, side by side, and the best modalities will win. Furthermore, what is defined as \u201cbest\u201d will vary from region to region, between people and across cultures. I can envision an entire array of \u201cmarkets for living\u201d where competition and economic accountability drive them toward the provision of more novel solutions at better prices.<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding my inability to project a precise outcome of this experimentation, I do have an idea of what sort of general economic model might outperform others. <\/p>\n<p><em>GAAS, or Governance as a Service.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve used these models to revolutionize services in cyberspace, and through competition drive toward better features, more value and lower prices. Why would we not apply this sort of model to meatspace?<\/p>\n<p>Think of an all-inclusive resort or hotel experience. Or membership to the Soho House. You pay a membership fee of some sort covering certain basics. You may choose to have some sort of add-ons or variations that make your contract with the service provider bespoke.<\/p>\n<p>You may even have a series of memberships across multiple territories, and use them how you want. Perhaps you buy ownership, or lifetime membership in a territory early and you\u2019re able to sublet part of your rights when you need to. We could even employ &nbsp;a \u201ctime-share\u201dsort of model used today as an effective means of pooling resources for shared ownership of private property. Who knows? The options to scale up initial citadels, and later operate them, are not only endless, but <em>superior<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Why would we find it strange that commercially oriented entities would somehow not be able to deliver anything an incompetent government can?<\/p>\n<p>In fact, I find it absurd to think that any government, operating in an economic vacuum, could ever outcompete this kind of private-city GAAS provider. One lives by how much money they siphon out of the populace, while the other by how well they service their clients.<\/p>\n<p>There is absolutely no possible argument \u201cfor\u201d public government other than the fact that because they currently hold the largest \u201cstick.\u201d That does not defend their existence, but should if anything force us to think deeply about how to disempower them and bankrupt them from within, until they crumble and dissolve. Why? Because <em>they<\/em> are the ones we need to protect ourselves from most. They are the greatest possible aggressor. <\/p>\n<h2>CEO Kings<\/h2>\n<p>Next\u2026Who might these territory operators actually be?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s call them \u201cCEO kings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By virtue of Bitcoin\u2019s abolition of the state, I envision the rise of kings, lords and nobles.<\/p>\n<p>A new age of economically accountable monarchs, operating their territories and servicing their customers in the same way that great, innovative companies would.<\/p>\n<p>In their domain, they are the kings. They are the ultimate authority, because they are the apex property owner. And while that may come with risks, there is a natural balancing mechanism built into it because of the digital nature of wealth and the relationship between the governor and governed.<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin enables mobility (not just up and down the social strata) but between jurisdictions and as such transforms the returns to violence. It increases the cost to attack and lowers the price of defense, of trade and of cooperation.<\/p>\n<p>Future CEO kings will live and die by their bottom line, and that bottom line will come from serving their customers.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, some of them <em>may<\/em> become tyrants, but in a world with more choice and mobility of wealth, the returns on tyranny diminish significantly.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the risk that you run your territory in the ground and be acquired for <em>\u201csats on the Bitcoin\u201d<\/em> by a consortium of superior operators, means that you\u2019ll want to think twice before shitting where you sleep.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re beginning to see early signs of this already.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll go out on a limb and say that the most important thing Bukele has done, perhaps even more so than making Bitcoin legal tender, is the following:<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/61_image2.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>What the world needs more than anything (in terms of leadership), is economically accountable territory operators. Think Steve Jobs blended with JFK: Charisma, foresight, creativity, business acumen and a focus on the product and serving the customer.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin makes this kind of future possible.<\/p>\n<h2>Leadership<\/h2>\n<p>A quick note on leadership.<\/p>\n<p>I was speaking to Tomer Strolight the other day and he mentioned a story from an old employee of his. Tomer had asked him if he wanted to be a leader and what that duty entailed. The response was that he could \u201cbe in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is not out of the ordinary. Most people conflate leadership with control, dictates, ordering and with \u201cbeing in charge.\u201d I know I thought this when I was younger, but as I matured I came to the realization that true leadership is about responsibility and empowering the right people to take charge.<\/p>\n<p>So while yes, to some degree the leader is in charge of finding those people, an effective leader is actually not in charge of the minutiae. They are not a micromanager or control freak, like modern statists. This is what made people like George Washington, Alexander the Great, Robert Noyce and the mature Steve Jobs incredible leaders.<\/p>\n<p>These are the archetypes who will emerge to lead the new world.<\/p>\n<h2>\u201cA Network Of Dictators\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Now\u2026to piss a few people off.<\/p>\n<p>How will these CEO kings interact at the macro scale? Will they form alliances? Are there economic advantages of partnering and aligning with other CEO kings and territories?<\/p>\n<p>Think of \u201cStar Alliance.\u201d It is a global airline alliance formed by five \u201ccompetitors\u201d who realized that while they run separate businesses, there is value in creating a shared network for their clients to benefit from.<\/p>\n<p>Mind you, this was all before flying was hijacked by the government and turned into one of the most degrading experiences on Earth. All of the joy has been sucked out of it since 2001, and especially since 2020. Another example of the sheer incompetence and bumbling buffoonery of the state.<\/p>\n<p>Government intervention and destruction aside, we may see the same sort of thing happen with markets of living.<\/p>\n<p>As each of these emergent citadels becomes a sort of meatspace node, they may form a network of citadels and territories who align around Bitcoin\u2019s economic advantages, their complementary nature or by virtue of having shared goals and values.<\/p>\n<p>The question I would then like to posit is the following:<\/p>\n<p>Does Bitcoin make local, economically accountable \u201cdictatorships\u201d possible?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an interesting idea, and one that may work in a world where the returns to violence have changed, so the cost of attack is significantly higher than the cost of defense.<\/p>\n<p>I know the word \u201cdictator\u201d only serves to trigger people. I do mean leaders, but these leaders will most certainly be called dictators, and to a large degree, in the early days they will likely need to operate with more authoritative zeal. There is both wartime and peacetime behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Think about it this way.<\/p>\n<p>One must be the dictator of their own lives and resources to begin with. As private property extends so too does one\u2019s \u201cdictatorship.\u201d As the primary private property owner in a territory, will you not have the earned \u2014 or paid for \u2014 authority to dictate terms with those who choose to work with or for you?<\/p>\n<p>I bring this up because people with views like Alex Gladstein always <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/the-polarity-of-bitcoin-in-el-salvador\">like to point out<\/a> \u201cflaws\u201d in supposed \u201cdictators\u201d like Bukele, while turning a blind eye to the atrocities perpetrated by democratic governments such as Chinada, Auschtralia and New Xiland.<\/p>\n<p>My retort is: \u201cSo what if Bukele is a dictator?\u201d Better the devil you know, that is economically accountable and has some skin in the game by being on a Bitcoin standard, than some nameless, faceless, disembodied institution represented by representatives with no skin in the game. The former is more constrained than the latter who never pays the bill.<\/p>\n<p>The following quote by C.S. Lewis is apt here:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOf all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron\u2019s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be \u2018cured\u2019 against one\u2019s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.\u201d \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/526469-of-all-tyrannies-a-tyranny-sincerely-exercised-for-the-good\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">C.S. Lewis<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So I implore you to think beyond the labels (they\u2019ve been so watered down now by a soft, ever-triggered and overly feminized society that they\u2019re meaningless anyway).<\/p>\n<p>This possible future in which a \u201cnetwork of dictators\u201d operate a diverse set of territories is one that I would argue offers up far superior opportunities and living services than any modern government of today could ever hope to provide.<\/p>\n<p>There are going to be many, many things to work out along the way, but the kicker is this tether to an unchanging economic order in the form of Bitcoin\u2019s fixed money supply and uncensorable, transparent monetary and temporal network.<\/p>\n<p>Someone or some few are going to have to be top dogs, but better that the top dogs have to work to stay there and risk falling because we\u2019re all playing by the same economic rules.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a fairer and more robust world, and one which I personally hope my descendants will inherit.<\/p>\n<h2>In Closing<\/h2>\n<p>Wow\u2026We\u2019re finally at the end of it all. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been a blast writing this. <\/p>\n<p>I set out to write one article about why Bitcoin is not democratic. I wanted to remind people that it is enforced by the individual, for the individual and their \u201cvotes\u201d have <em>no<\/em> bearing on anyone else\u2019s private property.<\/p>\n<p>My goal was to show you that Bitcoin is true, voluntary, anarchic consensus.<\/p>\n<p>In the process, and almost 30,000 words later, we\u2019ve got a mini-treatise on the grand scam of democracy, and ideas for the future of human organization and coexistence.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t expect that, but I\u2019m glad we\u2019ve taken this journey. <\/p>\n<p><strong>A summation of the key ideas:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin is in many ways the \u201cRenaissance of Responsibility.\u201d It is antithetical and incompatible with collectivist doctrines, including and especially democracy which are hinged on concepts like representation and voting, and prone to devolving into mob rule, tragedies of the commons, behavioral decay and the heightening of time preference.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin is an economic, not political beast and as such makes the socialization of poor decisions via majority rule or representative decree impossible. <\/p>\n<p>There are no representative rulers on a Bitcoin standard who can operate in an economic vacuum and thus a contractual void. As such it localizes any potential moral hazard, which is a central theme and, in fact, systemic to collectivist politics.<\/p>\n<p>In part three we explained why human rights are a scam. They are merely an elaborate method of encroaching upon the property rights of those who bear the responsibility side of the ledger.<\/p>\n<p>We also came to the realization that Bitcoin not only separates money and state, but it separates economy and politics. I\u2019d argue the latter is a transformation that will have an impact of magnitude nobody alive today could possibly fathom.<\/p>\n<p>Despite our inability to appreciate the full magnitude of the change, we can still begin to think about how to orient ourselves for alignment. We can think about the law and its limitations, we can do our best to draw clear lines between property and plunder, we can structure contracts and incentives in accordance with the changing returns on violence resultant of Bitcoin\u2019s redefinition of the preservation of private property rights through the mathematical (not forceful) means.<\/p>\n<p>With this, we can most definitely think more about a move toward anarchism, and in particular flavors such as localism and one day even the rise of modern monarchies and CEO kings.<\/p>\n<p>There is so much change, for the better, ahead of us. And it\u2019s happening. In fact, there\u2019s nothing we can do to stop this change because the old guard is crumbling.<\/p>\n<p>A friend of mine sent me <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptohayes.medium.com\/energy-cancelled-e9f9e53a50cd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an article<\/a> by Arthur Hayes today (March 21). I didn\u2019t have time to read it, so I asked him for the high-level overview. In short, he said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMore or less an analysis of the repercussions of confiscating Russia&#8217;s savings. Distrust in the whole system causing nations to gravitate towards hard money &#8211; gold first and later Bitcoin.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To which my response was:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAccurate. I\u2019ve said many times, Bitcoin wins less because of what we do, and more because of the cluster fuck the state creates for itself. Classic art of war. Do not get in the way of your enemy who is making a mistake.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The petrodollar truly came to an end this year, 13 years after Bitcoin came to life. The clown-world globalists cut off their nose to spite their face. It is almost poetic.<\/p>\n<p>The timeline we\u2019re living in is full of more twists, turns and cliches than a run-of-the-mill series on Netflix and as much as it\u2019s frustrating, if you step back a little, you know how it ends.<\/p>\n<p>The bad guys, i.e., the bumbling fools whose own lives are such a mess and cannot practice self-restraint so need to project their lack of control on everyone else, end up losing. They lose because A=A, and 2 + 2 = 4. They will deny reality, they will gaslight us, and they will pretend with all their might that math is racist or that gravity does not exist; but soon enough, just like Icarus experienced, gravity is real, the sun melts wax and below their false map is no longer ground, but air.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a long way down after that.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, we have a way to go before we rise up from the tyranny of the majority. New hysterias will continue to emerge reminiscent of the constant state of tension and angst present in Orwell\u2019s \u201c1984.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not over until the abomination that is democracy dissolves and is replaced with an organic, emergent, economic standard.<\/p>\n<p>A Bitcoin standard.<\/p>\n<p>So to commemorate the inevitable death of democracy, I\u2019d like to leave you with a quote and a video.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u2026but Remember, that the captain belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom. <\/p>\n<p><em>The solid and unmoving cattle of the majority.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2026Oh god, the terrible tyranny of the majority\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/451\/quotes\/character\/captain-beatty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Faber to Montag<\/a>, \u201cFahrenheit 451,\u201d by Ray Bradbury<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And\u2026<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/FwiIMu76BFI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Tiny Dot<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"FwiIMu76BFI\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Tiny Dot\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FwiIMu76BFI?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>I look forward to an age where responsibility shapes society and consequence is once again the clear feedback mechanism that will make us better, smarter, stronger humans. An age where power is concentrated in distributed, competitive nodes, and democracy is but a memory. An age of competence and a period of human history where we transcend the cyclical stupidity that is unhinged politics.<\/p>\n<p>I have faith that Bitcoin will accomplish that, and change the course of human development forever\u2026.Laura\u2026forever.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for reading, and I sincerely hope you found value in trading your time for it. There will be loads more to come.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to follow more of my work, you can see links to it below.<\/p>\n<h4>Blog on Bitcoin Magazine<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/authors\/aleksandarsvetski\"><em>Articles by Aleksandar Svetski<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Twitter:<\/h4>\n<p>@GhostOfSvetski<br \/>@TimelessBitcoin<br \/>@Un-Communist<br \/>@WakeUpPod_<\/p>\n<p><em>This is a guest post by Aleks Svetski, Author of \u201c<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uncommunist.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The UnCommunist Manifesto<\/em><\/a><em>,\u201d The Bitcoin Times and Host of anchor.fm\/WakeUpPod. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or <\/em>Bitcoin Magazine<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The final installment of the Bitcoin Is Not Democratic series explores how a society built on Bitcoin may function and how merit will supersede politics as a mode of social organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2612,"featured_media":10365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[514,1831,59,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-10362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"tag-democracy","9":"tag-martys-bent","10":"tag-opinion","11":"tag-politics"},"author_data":{"id":2612,"name":"Aleksandar Svetski","nicename":"aleksandarsvetski","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cropped-aleksandar-svetski-96x96.jpg"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/bitcoin-magazine-lowbandwidth-800x529-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}