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Another US political candidate is advocating the use of Bitcoin. Instead of just accepting the crypto-currency for donations, this candidate has taken it one step further.
Alex Fidel is running for mayor in the city of Encinitas, California, a suburb of San Diego famous for its surf culture and the YMCA skate park.
He’s looking to put Encinitas on the map for another reason than sunny climes, beautiful people, beach-town vibes, and so on. He wants the Southern California coastal town to be a Bitcoin safehaven from what he terms the “conjoined twins of the Federal Reserve and the IRS.”
One of the 22-year old candidate’s main talking points is the nullification of legal tender laws by elevating the importance of the US Constitution’s Tenth Amendment.
“I would nullify legal tender laws and money exchange laws to allow individuals to engage in the currency of their choosing, whether it be gold, silver, copper, Bitcoin, voluntary exchange, or even the devaluing Federal Reserve Note dollar system for those that wish to stick with the pyramid scheme,” the candidate wrote on his Facebook page.
On a recent appearance on The Our Very Own Special Show Podcast, the candidate proposed that the income tax apply only to the US Dollar, absolving bitcoin, precious metals and other alternative currency users of paying the income tax. (That part starts at 58 minutes)
“…The Fed and IRS were both created in 1913 as one entity. The income tax should only apply to Federal Reserve Notes, so if you’re a major corporation using Federal Reserve Notes, it’s probably because you’re connected to the banks. It will be mostly small business that stop using the corporate-fascist medium. Exempting alternative currencies from the income tax would be good for employment, and the dollar would lose value. People would only have to report taxes if they use the federal reserve note.”
That’s a lot of upheaval. So what does this all mean?
“You wouldn’t be a slave to the dollar system,” the candidate says.
Bitcoin and politics might not be two things you consider to go together very well. But in the US they are two things that have been going together increasingly since Bitcoin became a thing in 2008.
The crypto-currency’s use in government all started when E-Gov Linkmade it possible for local governments to accept bitcoin payments for tickets, fines and other city administration.
The link between politics (or anti-politics) and Bitcoin has only grown more obvious.
The road was paved in May thanks to a unanimous vote by the Federal Election Commission to make it legal for bitcoin donations to be donated for political campaigns. Donations are capped at $100 per person, per cycle.
Alex Fidel isn’t the first candidate to accept bitcoins, even if he is the first to suggest bitcoiners pay no taxes, which is quite contrary to what Ben Lawsky wants to do in New York with proposed “BitLicenses.”
Introduced to Bitcoin four years ago while working in tech, Andrew Hemingway is now a Republican candidate for governor in New Hampshire. He is the first candidate for governor in New Hampshire history to accept bitcoin donations.
What might this added Bitcoin dimension bring to US elections at the city, state and federal levels?
“The use is as much for candidates to show they favor technology,” Jim Harper, global policy counsel for the Bitcoin Foundation, said. “The Bitcoin demographic is younger, more tech-oriented, probably more male-heavy.”
Whether or not Bitcoin plays a major role in future democratic elections has yet to be seen. Of course, the Bitcoiners are planning on this being the case.
If you’d like to donate to Alex’s campaign, you may do so here, while simultaneously learning about the candidate.
To listen to the interview, click here. Discussion about Alex’s plan for Bitcoin starts around the 58 minute mark.
[Editor's Note: Alex will be on Anarchast this week. Click here to subscribe.]
Justin O’Connell is the Chief Executive Officer of GoldSilverBitcoin. He is also the author of the bitcoin book, Bitcoinomics, and administrator of the Bitcoinomics website. Justin is also a co-host at Our Very Own Special Show, a lifestyle podcast about music, news, life and other topics, and head researcher at The Dollar Vigilante. He lives in San Diego, California.
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On to the review…
Monday September 1
WILL THIS BE THE LAST LABOR DAY WORKERS CAN AFFORD TO ESCAPE THE US?
Jeff Berwick with a TDV Labor Day special.
“Ah, Labor Day. A government created day on which those people who work (read: producers) are supposedly celebrated by the people who don't (government and welfare recipients). Pat yourselves on the back, entrepreneurs – the parasites love you. As I've written here in The Dollar Vigilante (TDV) Blog, approximately 65 million US citizens work. The rest receive welfare in various forms.”
Tuesday September 2
WHY BURGER KING'S EXPATRIATION IS THE MORAL THING TO DO
Jeff on Burger King’s desire to pay less taxes.
“It was announced last week that Burger King had bought a famous Canadian restaurant franchise known as Tim Horton's to reduce the amount of taxes they ‘owe’ to the US government. An upcry arose!
As usual the mainstream media and the people who watch it have the story totally wrong. Burger King is not giving US taxpayers a ‘raw deal’ by looking to move abroad so as to save on profits, which are not repatriated. Instead, the iconic fast food burger chain is doing the moral thing by moving its tax-base outside the war-mongering, highly socialist US federal government's reach.”
Wednesday September 3
THE REPAINTING OF OUR POLITICAL WORLD
Jeff on a new form of subtle protest.
“People are subtly mocking forms of authority all over the world in peaceful protests. This new ‘post-graffiti’ sees these new street artist taking aim at the political elites and hierarchy.
For example, sometime during the Labor Day weekend someone painted red the hands of the Washington statute in Mill Park in Trenton, New Jersey. The historic statute was cast in Italy and first showed at the US Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.”
Thursday September 4
THE POLICE STATE VERSUS THE MARKET
Jeff on the rising police state’s role in the market.
“The police state has only grown worse in recent decades and there is a nationwide cover up of the true details about how many police officers kill people each year. Many newspapers have recently reported the number as 400, but I highly doubt this is accurate and it seems to me to be grossly under reported. Of course it is coming from the mainstream media.”
Friday September 5
WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN THE DOLLAR COLLAPSE?
Jeff on the threat no one is talking about.
“I hate to always be the bearer of bad news but while we focus a lot on The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI) there is one event that could be more catastrophic and is well within the realm of distinct possibility… actually a virtual certainty.
I pointed it out years ago as being the actual number one real, factual threat to human life on Earth and still believe that to this day. And based on a few recent events I think it begets reminding.”
TDV VIDEO
Lots of new videos this week. Jeff interviews Tres Knippa, William N. Grigg, Orion Martin, and Lyn Ulbricht on the Anarchast. Plus, Jeff appears on Perpetual Assets with Gus Demos.
Have a look at our wide array of informative videos featuring interviews, opinions, and analysis on TDV’s media page.
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Managing Editor
