Politicians in representative democracies dislike crypto money, totalitarian regimes hate it; it is all about power and control of the population. It is because of that politicians in representative democracies dislike direct democracy.
Perhaps you believe Trump and Biden are very different on that; do not be fooled by their differences in some policies, for real change to strengthen democracy by introducing direct democracy, neither of them is interested; both believe the population can not decide; that voters are not smart enough. In their minds, people need the leaders like them, as well as leaders in the Senate and the House. The leaders and the members in Congress they are not interested in direct democracy either.
Politicians in representative democracies have convinced most voters that political leadership is indispensable, that without it, the country cannot figure out what it wants or needs.
However, is it not interesting that poll after poll shows most Americans hold politicians in very low esteem? Should that not tell Americans they have to take the life of the nation in their own hands?; I believe it should. I believe it will once they become more aware of what direct democracy is about.
Neither Trump nor Biden, nor Congress want America to be more democratic, never mind their “great democracy rhetoric”; none of them wants government by the people; they both believe in government by the politicians and by their loyal appointees.
Americans are not happy with their elected politicians at all. That is what the Pew Research Survey shows for many years in a long row.
Americans do not believe politicians are up to governing the country, that the country is being led in the wrong direction by the politicians.
The root problem is that the people have no power in representative democracies because politicians in representative democracies believe the people should have no power.
Politicians in representative democracies, it does not matter if they are progressives or conservatives, believe that “the issues are too complex for most voters”. This is a code expression that really means “voters are not smart enough to decide issues”.
Trump and Biden are similar; both like centralized power. The people they appoint and the members of Congress feel exactly the same. Crypto money is about decentralization. To Trump, casinos, roulette, etc., are serious business, but direct democracy and democratic money are not.
They all talk a good game of “the people this, the people that”, they talk of “the American voter is an intelligent voter, a mature voter, a responsible voter”. it is all prepared political marketing empty words. They do not believe that at all. Trump, Biden and all those that preceded them think alike; “the people need leaders with “vision” and the character to execute the vision”.
Do not get me going with the “vision” that created the Vietnam mess, the Iranian mess, the Iraki mess, the Castro mess, the Taliban mess, including the current Afghanistan evacuation mess. As for “character”; Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Clinton… no need to continue.
If the elected politicians had the vision and the character, the people would not be telling the researchers of Pew Research what they are telling them; that Congress is non functional and that the politicians, Trump and Biden and the rest, have been and are, leading the country in many wrong, wrong, directions.
The American people seem ton be waiting for a miracle, that somehow, with making a few protests and grumbling, and going again to the polls, things will radically change for the better, it will not happen.
The latest “vision” of politicians is money printing, even the most ignorant person knows that money should not be printed in the quantities the politicians are printing it now, that it can not end up well, that money will lose a lot of value and make millions poor.
Trump and Biden, and Warren and McConnell and Pelosi, and the rest, believe in central power, that somehow, they have the right messianic vision, that they are the prophets. Never mind that the idea of prophets of radically opposite “true” visions is totally irrational; Trump, Biden and the rest see themselves as the Messianic leaders; you only have to listen to them pronouncing their empty slogans like “yes we can !” (rescue GM and the big banks), “make America great”, “Restore the soul of America”, etc.
They oppose direct democracy, real democracy, for the same reason they oppose Bitcoin; they like centralized power, they dislike the people to have the power to send or withdraw troops from foreign countries, or to diminish or increase the size and budget of the armed forces, or to increase or reduce taxation levels of individuals and corporations, or to decide in a referendum if they want universal health care, etc., etc.
Trump and Biden do not want that because they believe the people cannot make such decisions and also because they like the benefits of power; from the ego boosting deferential and special treatment that “Mr President”, “Senator”, “Congressman” or “Congresswoman”, to the direct and indirect economic benefits that themselves, now or in the future, and the lobbies that support them, derive from the power politicians have.
The American voter, the UK voter, the French voter, of the Left and the Right, have allowed themselves to be herded in a sort of psychological prison; they believe they are incapable of deciding issues themselves, that only their “shepherds” can do that.
It is time to decentralize political decision making and also to decentralize money, the time for direct democracy has arrived, the time to put people in control of money has arrived, but it will go right by us if we do not demand both; control of politics and control of money. The Swiss have been showing, decade after decade, that direct democracy works. By the way, the Swiss government is far more open to crypto that the governments of the US and the rest.
We need real power to the people, power where it counts, to calmly, rationally, debate issues and vote to decide issues, not just to elect politicians. Direct democracy is not about demagogues screaming need “power to the people!”. Leaders who do not really believe in democracy because they believe they When the people have actual power, they do not need to scream or take to the streets; they organize a binding referendum and decide the issue.
Direct democracy forces people to be in charge of their destiny, of the majority deciding. No longer we will need politicians and “leaders”; we will lead ourselves. No longer the minority will lead the majority, the majority will lead itself.
But to bring direct democracy to the US, and to the other countries, as well as decentralized money, the people have to demand it. By the way, it does not do much good California and other states direct democracy; it is not direct democracy because the politicians and the courts can overturn the results of referendums. Further more; the most important level of government in the US, the one with the most power over the lives of Americans, is not the state government but the Federal Government.
Victor Lopez
