A perfect storm incoming: Den is behind with the book reviews for SN (#1573664); Siggy offers 10x rewards (#1572877); and the rewards pot has gone bananas (#1573794).

...and then it was announced that the progressive Bitcoin initiative is dying so I thought this review suitable. I always predicted the demise of this self-contradictory idea, but not in this way and probably not from just petering out like they seemingly did. Progressive Bitcoiners was a big deal for a year or two about a cycle ago, but then nobody cared.

A Progressive's Case for Bitcoin: A Path Toward a More Just, Equitable, and Peaceful World is a beautiful book that I still recommend as a first read, especially if whoever I'm talking to carries all sorts of leftie/progressive/wokey ideas.

As I write in the review, if Den -- the evil, capitalist, market-friendly, money/finance-crazy anarchist -- supports Bitcoin, a progressive is gonna suspect trickery and foul play... but if Jason Maier, a credentialed, serious progressive, think Bitcoin a good idea, then perhaps they could (and should!) pay attention.

...and we're doing a throwback to the Álvaro book which kicked off this series, as this review was published in the same Withdrawal Issue as Álvaro's The Philosophy of Bitcoin (#1517354) and Larry White's Better Money? (#1556942). I was fucking busy for that issue
(This review was published in Bitcoin Magazine Print's The Withdrawal Issue in 2023, the mentioning of which was a condition of me republishing the reviews on SN.)

I always held that there was no progressive case for Bitcoin. Progressives want to steer and control; Bitcoin liberates and solidifies, making directed control impossible.

"Ergo: Progressives don’t like Bitcoin."

In A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin, Jason Maier shows that that’s not quite right. In authoritarian countries, bitcoin is a godsend. Women in abusive relationships can use bitcoin as a financial means to escape. Poor or disadvantaged communities, routinely fucked by banks, now have a way around them.

The book combines the suspense of a master magician with the well-meaning and clever insights of a teacher — the ones that make you question what you used to believe, forever shifting your perspective from 2D to 3D. I frequently rolled my eyes at the progressive talking points about injustice or structural oppression — Not here too! Bitcoin is supposed to be an escape from those legacy disputes — only to have Maier walk me through a bitcoin use case I had never considered. Huh, didn’t think about that.

The energy chapter on mining and renewables is where Maier really shines. It’s the go-to progressive objection to Bitcoin,

...not anymore! ESG is kind of dead (#1530719), was always just a low-interest rate phenomenon; nobody cares about green stuff anymore...

... which Maier not only dismantles but flips on its head. Bitcoin is more green than, say, your virtue-signaling electric vehicle, but its real magic is that it actively makes renewable energy work. The chapter shows extremely well how bitcoin miners aren’t just innocent of the outrageous charges left-leaning politicians lay at their door, but are absolutely essential to overcoming the intermittency obstacle that makes renewables such terrible energy sources for the 21st century.

Still, the book’s main thesis fails. It’s not the progressive case for Bitcoin, for despite the author’s valiant attempt to construct one, such a thing doesn’t (can’t?) exist. It’s a progressive’s case for Bitcoin. Jason Maier, who is a progressive, favors Bitcoin. The reasons he so carefully advances contain a touch of progressivism — like a side dish of squishy asparagus added to the main meal (steak, obviously!) — in a libertarian-like story about how money, power, corruption, and Big Government broke everything.

And in the end that might be the most important contribution: that the defense of Bitcoin comes from a progressive. That gives much-needed credence in a world that prefers messenger over message. When I tell progressives that Bitcoin is good for the world, they suspect foul play and callousness. When Maier does so, they perk up and wonder what he sees that they might have overlooked.

"But hey, maybe I got this entire conversation about progressive goals and Bitcoin completely wrong. To find out, go read the book."

SELECTED QUOTES:

• “Bitcoin represents the best hope we have for overcoming the economic, political, and even social problems that divide this country… progressives should turn to Bitcoin if they want to advance their goals” (pages 22-23).
• “Mining Bitcoin has proven to be the best demand response vehicle to help stabilize our electricity grid, allowing for the increased use of intermittent sources of electricity like wind and solar” (page 63).
• “I could have given this book the title The Progressive Case for Bitcoin, but I didn’t. What I have written here is just my perspective on a variety of very important topics. This book is my case for Bitcoin, but it is just the beginning of important work that I hope you will continue” (page 214).

BOOK on BOOKS Archive

Principles of Bitcoin: Technology, Economics, Politics, and Philosophy, by Vijay Selvam (#1573664)

Better Money? Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin by Lawrence White (#1556942)

I Am Not Your Bruh: 21 Keys to Sound Parenting, by George Mekhail (#1548087)

Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (#1540851)

Gradually, Then Suddenly: A Framework for Understanding Bitcoin as Money, by Parker Lewis (#1536970)

Fiat Ruins Everything: How Our Financial System is Rigged and How Bitcoin Fixes it, by Jimmy Song (#1530254)

Bitcoin One Million, The Final Chapter of Fiat, by Fred Krueger & Ben Sigman (#1521960)

Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden History of BTC, by Roger Ver (#1525907)

The Philosophy of Bitcoin, by Álvaro D. María (#1517354)