Lots of great answers here, but I think that there is an underlying cause of most of the benefits described, and that there is "one obvious way" to think about this question, and it's this:<p>* Python lives outside the control of any single corporate or government entity. Yes, three of the biggest players work at Dropbox, but clearly Dropbox doesn't have the kind of control over Python that Oracle has over Java, SalesForce with Ruby, or Google with Go.<p>Because of this, Python is more a community than a single programming language. Being at PyCon fills one with the sense that, after the fall of the state (or at least the US government), very little will change within Python - we'll still be there to support each other in code and in spirit.<p>There will still be a space for data science and web trends to share air with multimedia hacking and sacred geometry. There will still be story telling, acro-yoga, robotics, and unit tests under one roof.<p>I can actually imagine Rust or Go (and Gophercon) becoming such a haven, but to my knowledge, it isn't yet. Python has the unique combination of a rich, diverse, radical, accepting culture with technical maturity and reliability.<p>Python makes me feel safe and brings out the best of who I am.<p>That's why I use Python.