Texas Independence Day and thoughts on how this relates to Blockchain Currency
Texans Unique Sense of Identity
Why is Texas Independence Day important to Texans you might ask? Well, to really understand this it helps to ask a related question: "Why do Texans have such a strong independent identity" Well, part of the answer is that from 1836 until statehood was granted in 1845, This was the sovereign nation of the Republic of Texas. Yes, but that is ancient history right? Well, it might be, if from 1845 to 2018 continue to see a value in independent thinking and independent identity.
Texas has a unique sense of Identity. Visitors will often remark for example, about how we are not satisfied with just owning the requisite Pick-up Truck, but would prefer to have one made especially for Texans. That is right, it is very common to see trucks emblazoned with "Texas Edition" elevating it above common trucks that are probably good enough for those other states.
The reason Texans have maintained such a sense of self identity, is that the importance of independence, and self determination has remained a core value. I can tell you that seeing the news every day about the crazy times we are living in, that I am very glad to be specifically located in the great State Republic of Texas. Now don't get me wrong, most Texas Citizens are also proud Americans, but they also reserve the right to think for themselves and to fight for individual rights, and against any impediment to freedom and liberty.
Freedom from Corrupt Rule
What ties Texas Independence together with blockchain and distributed currency? Freedom from corrupt rule. Texans are always a little skeptical about what the national government is doing "on our behalf"
Freedom can only be maintained by being free from corrupt rule. Now of course, this use case extends the definition to freedom from incompetent rule. As a Texan, I would like to limit the amount of information I provide to anyone that can be used against me in some form or fashion.
- This includes what information the government collects, because I have no guarantee that our goals will always align.
- This includes what information Windows 10 collects when the EULA basically says that "we will read your email and do whatever we see fit with the information" WTF?
- This also includes what financial information I share with my Bank and the associated financial Institutions.
Key Idea: Big Banking, Big Business, and Big Government = Big Brother
Now there can be a lot of tin hat conspiracy theory around this idea, and I'm not going there, pease hear that. What I am suggesting is simple, My information is MY information unless I say otherwise, and then only as I specify how it can be used and by whom.
Texas and Blockchain Analogy
If Big Brother, Big Banking and Big Government are the great centralized powers that we should rightfully be careful of what power and responsibility we entrust to them, then Texas and Blockchain are the antitypes that can provide security to freedom and independence through distributed accountability.
Now I'm just spitballing here, so I'm sure this analogy is full of holes, but still useful. In this model, Washington D.C. is like the Steemit leadership, and Texas is like a top Witness. I guess you could say our constitution is like a Smart Contract. Leadership wants to make changes to how the blockchain operates to achieve strategic goals, but does not want to create something so bad that states consider secession (a hard fork). The witness wants to work with the Leadership to make sure it's own interests are represented and respected. The of course, there is a level at which the witnesses must work together, but we are not going there for now.
We want to work together, however we are beginning to see what can happen when an all powerful entity (Google, Twitter, UTube) decides that any deviation from their ideals is considered a threat to the very survival of the blockchain (nation) and must be suppressed. In the digital world, the Steemit ecosystem is a Hard Fork from the previous model. (Actually it is a genesis fork, but the present description works for illustrative purposes).
The Purpose of Texas identity, and of the new Social Media identity (Steemit) is to maintain a Distrobuted Ledger so that the data (information, laws, etc) are stored across a network of decentralized nodes (states/witnesses). This is done in both cases, to ensure protection from corrupt rule that could compromise the value proposition of either the digital currency, or the valued construct of Texas identity.
All that to say that what we are engaged in here is not to be taken lightly. This IS a revolution that challenges the existing power structures and we have not yet seen the real fight that is going to ensue once the giants fully wake up to what a "hard-fork" from the established systems will achieve and the loss of power that will surly entail.
SquareLink Journal #7: Independence and Freedom from Corrupt Rule via Distributed Ledger
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@phaazer1 [SquareLink]
If you can Dream it, you can Steem it.
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