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Why do you think you get the appeal of the Stacker News model and Bitcoin, when most lefties are immediately turned off by both?
I enjoy the contrast in viewpoints here- there is probably a majority of Libertarian leaning people here and I find it fascinating to test my beliefs and views against those.
Regarding Bitcoin the power private banks have come to hold over our governments as corrupt and dangerous.
Bitcoin provides an alternative to the fiat monopoly imposed by banks and governments.
Some do not seem to see clearly enough the way in which private banks have gained more and more power over both politicians and the monetary system- since the increasing use of bank deposits as opposed to physical cash in the sum total of money in circulation means the ratio of fiat issued via debt issuance by private bankers has increased significantly.
The ratio of physical cash (issued by the state as debt free cash) to bank deposits (which are effectively an IOU promise to redeem for physical cash) has fallen significantly over the last ~70 years from around 50% to around 5%.
That means that the power of fiat has largely shifted from governments to private bankers.
Used properly it can be argued that fiat money can deliver positive results for the masses but since so much of fiat issuance has effectively shifted to private banks away from direct government issuance while at the same time as banker-corporate lobbyist capture of politicians from all major parties has occurred the whole system needs to be challenged- and Bitcoin does that.
I am (arguably) a lefty and I like pay to post as it is applied here on SNs.
Pay to post is simply a functional tax - to fund the platform free of advertising and to moderate content.
Taxes can be good when they serve those majority paying them...and pay to post demonstrably serves SNs 'citizens' by enabling reduced spam and a higher level of informative news and dialogue.
Pay to post is also an impressive use of the LN - both demonstrating its potential and strengthening its operational capacity.