You say you believe in freedom. In the sovereign individual. In the right of every person to make their own choices.
Then Donald Trump launches $TRUMP token, and you lose your mind.
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: Your moral outrage about other people’s financial choices – whether they’re buying Trump’s tokens or Dogecoin – isn’t just annoying. It’s exposing your inner authoritarian.
“The liberalism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others, based on the principle of non-aggression and in defense of the right to life, liberty, and property,” wrote Alberto Benegas Lynch.
Read that again: Unrestricted respect for the life project of others.
Not “respect for others unless they’re buying Trump tokens.” Not “freedom of choice except when I disagree with those choices.” Not “sovereign individuals as long as they follow my rules.”
Unrestricted respect.
Here’s what the Bitcoin orthodoxy doesn’t want to confront: Every time you rage against $TRUMP tokens, shitcoins, NFT traders, or whatever the moral panic of the week is, you’re channeling the same authoritarian impulse that created the systems you claim to fight against.
The greatest irony? The same people screaming “freedom!” are the first ones to try to control how others use that freedom.
Let’s play a game. Spot the communist:
Person A: “People shouldn’t be allowed to buy risky assets.” Person B: “People shouldn’t buy $TRUMP because I know better.”
Plot twist: They’re the same picture.
Here’s your litmus test for true belief in freedom:
- Someone buys a JPEG for a million dollars
- Someone puts their life savings into $TRUMP
- Someone chooses fiat over Bitcoin
- Someone trusts SBF 2.0 with their keys
Does your blood pressure rise? Do you feel the need to “save them from themselves”?
Congratulations, you might be a closeted communist.
Because here’s what actual believers in freedom understand: The right to make choices includes the right to make choices you think are stupid.
The moment you believe you know better how others should live their lives – whether you’re mandating vaccines or mandating Bitcoin – you’ve abandoned the principles of liberty.
Want to really blow your mind? Every regulation, every government overreach, every communist policy started with someone thinking they knew better how others should live their lives.
“But I’m trying to protect people!”
“But they’re making bad choices!”
“But I know what’s best!”
Your triggering over other people’s choices reveals more about you than them. If you can’t handle watching others ape into $TRUMP tokens without wanting to intervene, you don’t believe in freedom – you believe in your own version of central planning.
True freedom includes the freedom to fail. True sovereignty includes the sovereignty to be sovereign differently than you would be. True respect for others’ life projects means respecting them even when those projects look nothing like what you’d choose.
So, the next time you feel the urge to rage about someone else’s crypto choices, ask yourself:
- Am I defending freedom or controlling it?
- Am I protecting choice or restricting it?
- Am I a libertarian or just an authoritarian who likes Bitcoin?
The real test of your Bitcoin ideals isn’t how strongly you hold them – it’s how comfortably you can watch others reject them.
If other people buying $TRUMP makes your blood boil, maybe it’s time to come out of the authoritarian closet. At least the communists are honest about wanting to control others’ lives.
Welcome to real freedom. It’s messier than you thought.
