> Another important conclusion of this is that if a politician is pro-crypto today, but they are the type of person that is either very power-seeking themselves, or willing to suck up to someone who is, then this is the direction that their crypto advocacy may look like ten years from now.<p>Vitalik strikes me as being very naive about the process of policy-making. All politicians are, <i>by definition</i>, power-seeking individuals. They're seeking the power afforded to them by a seat on city council, as governor, a member of congress, etc. This is simply the nature of the political process. They may even be seeking power in pursuit of a noble objective, but they are seeking power nonetheless.<p>Realpolitik as a non-politician means aligning yourself with whoever best represents your interests at that particular point in time. One election cycle that may be Party A, but in the future it could be Party B. It could differ at the federal, state, or local level. Frequent elections and term limits ensure that turnover will happen, so change will be the only constant. Flexibility is required.<p>Waiting for the perfectly ideologically-aligned candidate sounds nice, but in reality it means you'll be waiting forever. All politicians are flawed, and many will simply tell you what they think you want to hear. Their behaviour is amenable to incentives, however, which is why donations are such an important - if maligned - mechanism for accountability.<p>Marc & Ben are being practical. They've observed that the behaviour of one party has run directly counter to their interests over the last several years and they're aligning themselves with the party that is at least proposing a better set of policies.<p>That's just... how this stuff works and has always worked.
The politicians who are pro-crypto were paid to be so.[1] Well-paid.[2]<p>[1] <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/63ad2147-0aa7-4e28-9cf5-6ce3ce7a2b0c" rel="nofollow">https://www.ft.com/content/63ad2147-0aa7-4e28-9cf5-6ce3ce7a2...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/05/congress-blocked-sec-guidance-on-crypto-as-industry-lobbying-surged" rel="nofollow">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/05/congress-blocked-se...</a>
So their politics on freedom and privacy of blah blah blah non-cohesive ideology doesn't correlate with their actual stance on crypto. A politician being pro-crypto <i>does</i>, however, tell me that they are dumb enough to be duped/greedy enough to be paid into wasting time giving lip service to something that, regardless of ideology, is actually completely worthless.
I have (had?) a good friend who is in this group Vitalik is talking about. They've actually lived with Vitalik and co-authored posts with him. Cyrpto-culture changed him in ways I find troubling and I hope this might bring them back closer to the person they were prior to crypto corrupting their values.
A great article which will go in one ear and out the other of the people who actually follow Vitalik. The other day he tweeted a pretty anodyne statement about how getting vaccinated against covid is good, and was mauled in the replies by his supposed fans. I imagine it's a special circle of hell to be an extremely intelligent person whose hordes of fanatical devotees are all some of the dumbest people alive.