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Adelle Nazarian, CEO of the American Blockchain PAC, whose advisory board is chaired by blockchains co-inventor Dr. W. Scott Stornetta, and Alex Allaire, the co-founder and CEO of the American Blockchain Initiative, recently published a roadmap for Congressional blockchain regulation in the National Interest.

Our two organizations have curated ten legislative proposals among the best, most consequential, and politically most palatable. Soon there will be more.

Many smart people on the Hill and in the executive branch are formulating legislation worthy of President Joe Bidens landmark Executive Order #14067: Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets. That executive order is the most consequential presidential statement of technology policy since President John F. Kennedy sent the United States to the moon with his 1962 Rice University speech on September 12, 1962.

Bidens executive order created a national framework fully respecting, for the first time, the responsible development of digital assets such as the blockchain.

The first policy recommendation on our initial list:

Congress should provide funding for blockchain research and development on the scale of the National Quantum Initiative. In October 2019, Chinese president Xi Jinping, the leader of Americas premier rival, threw down the gauntlet. It is necessary to strengthen basic research, enhance the original innovation ability, and strive to let China take the leading position in the emerging field of blockchain, occupy the commanding heights of innovation, and gain new industrial advantages, Xi declared. America must rise to this challenge!

Federal research and development (R&D) will never pass the libertarian purity test. Yet as one of us noted in a column for Newsmax:

Per [the eminent Norman] Augustine, numerous studies including those that won Robert Solow and Paul Romer Nobel Prizes in Economics, demonstrate that as much as 85% of the long-term growth in America's economy is attributable to advancements in science and technology.

The payoffs from the successes of federal R&D dwarf the cost of the failures. This inconvenient truth is supported by abundant evidence, however horrifying to libertarians.

To loop back to Romer, the proto-supply-sider and coiner of the maxim a crisis is a terrible thing to waste, a 1997 article in Wired titled The Long Boom noted that research by a few economists, like Stanford University's Paul Romer, suggests that fundamentally new technologies generally don't become productive until a generation after their introduction, the time it takes for people to really learn how to use them in new ways.

This latency demands primarily government, rather than corporate, initiative. And here it comes!

Last month, in a massively bipartisan fashion, the president signed the Chips and Science Act of 2022. This committed America, according to CNN, to invest more than $200 billion over the next five years to help the US regain a leading position in semiconductor chip manufacturing.

$200 billion? Our prior call for spending on blockchain on the scale of the National Quantum Initiative$1.2 billion over the next five yearsseems positively, well, libertarian. In retrospect, our proposal called for an unduly modest response to a challenge from Americas number one technological and economic rival, the Peoples Republic of China.

Yet take heart. The New York Times observed that the act would also add $200 billion for scientific research, especially into artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing and a variety of other technologies. (Emphasis added.)

If we dedicate even a few percent of the $200 billion to blockchain, Beijing will be eating Americas dust. America retains a powerful advantage in innovation. Again, per the New York Times: The road to the global peaks of technology, as Mr. Xi has described Chinas aspirations, is decidedly uphill.

Americas advantage becomes especially vivid with possible breakthroughs for blockchain-as-a-platform via concurrency computing using rholang, an advanced mathematics invented by Gregory Meredith, one of our colleagues.

Lets take Romers dictum, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste, to heart. Let our federal governments scientific thought leaders allocate 3 or 4 percent of the funds from the Chips and Science Act to put the United States at the commanding heights of blockchain technology.

Todd White is the founder of American Blockchain PAC where Ralph Benko is senior counselor.

Image: Reuters.

Continued here:
The CHIPS Act Can Fuel an American Blockchain Revolution - The National Interest Online

If the main purpose of a political party is to run candidates for office, former Libertarian Party of Virginia Chairwoman Holly Ward says it felt like a violation to keep taking peoples money.

Its clear that we cant function, Ward said in an interview as she explained why the party is dissolving as a corporation and giving back the nearly $30,000 it had in the bank.

Ward provided documents showing the party had dissolved its corporate entity registered in Virginia, but other Libertarians have been questioning the legitimacy of the move and insisting the party will live on.

In an emailed statement, Angela McArdle, the chair of the National Libertarian Committee, said that, as of Tuesday evening, the national body does not acknowledge that a disaffiliation has taken place and we are waiting on the members of the Libertarian Party of Virginia to issue a statement on the matter.

As far as I can tell, the alleged disaffiliation and resolution of the Libertarian Party of Virginia are the actions of a small group of rogue individuals who exploited their positions of power and moved to disaffiliate with no regard for the other members of the party or the bylaws of their organization, McArdle said.

Ward, a 36-year-old Northern Virginia resident who works in tech, said the disarray over the Libertarians status in Virginia is part of a bigger battle over the national partys tone and focus. The resolution to dissolve the state party, which Ward says was approved Sunday in a 7-6-1 vote by the partys central committee, said the national party has become functionally indistinct from other alt-right parties and movements.

Those destructive ideas, the resolution said, include endorsing thinly-veiled antisemitism, explicitly welcoming bigotry into the party, reversing the LPs 50-year legacy of support for LGBTQ+ rights, and openly denouncing womens suffrage, the civil rights act, and democracy itself.

Ward attributed those trends to a Libertarian faction called the Mises Caucus, which she said is taking over the party apparatus and discouraging Libertarian candidates from running in swing states where they could hurt Republican votes and tilt the outcome toward Democrats.

Ward pointed to several social media posts as examples of the types of messages she opposed, including posts from the national party saying Social justice is a Marxist lie created to bully and divide the American people, defining democracy as mob rule that endangers individual rights and replying to the AP Stylebook suggesting the pronoun she could no longer be used since we dont know what a woman is anymore. She also pointed to a deleted Martin Luther King Jr. Day Twitter post by the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, an account the national party amplifies, that said America isnt in debt to black people, if anything its the other way around. Another post from the New Hampshire account said 6 million dollar minimum wage or youre antisemitic, which many interpreted as a reference to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Obviously I dont support any of these messages, Ward said. Its bigoted. Its absolutely repugnant.

Asked about the criticisms of the national party, McArdle said those sentiments came from the same group of rogue actors and may not reflect the views of all Virginia Libertarians.

Libertarians dont have a major presence in Virginias elected offices, but they used to have at least some heft in state politics.

In 2013, Libertarian Robert Sarvis earned more than 145,000 votes while running to be Virginias governor, more than the difference between the winner, former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and the loser, former Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Around that time, the party was involved in a handful of lawsuits challenging Virginias strict ballot access laws, which many Libertarians feel are designed to make it difficult for any alternative movement to break through and compete with the two dominant parties.

The party has faded in relevance since, running no candidates in recent statewide elections and having little discernible impact on state policy debates. A similar entity could re-emerge in some other form, but the new troubles raise serious questions about the viability of what was once Virginias highest-profile third party.

The Libertarians didnt have a candidate in last years gubernatorial race, but the party defended its right to use L on state ballots to avoid confusion with the Liberation Party, a third-party effort spearheaded by anti-police brutality activist Princess Blanding.

Online records from Virginias State Corporation Commission show the state Libertarian Partys nonstock corporation is in the process of dissolving, and the partys website has already been taken down. But there appears to be a power struggle underway over whether the party is or isnt calling it quits.

Daniel John, the state partys treasurer, emailed the Virginia Department of Elections Sunday night saying a few members of the organization acted inappropriately by attempting to dissolve the party against the wishes of the body and its bylaws.

Due to their choices, they have constructively resigned, John wrote. The rest of our board members and I will continue on with business as normal.

John didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

A new Twitter account ostensibly representing Virginia Libertarians appeared Sunday and also cast doubt on the validity of the dissolution vote. And local Libertarian chapters around the state have been chiming in to say the partys staying put.

The Libertarian Party of Virginia attempted to dissolve through a childish coup that violated multiple procedures, wrote the Libertarian Party of Northern Virginia.

A spokesman for the Department of Elections said that, as of Monday, the Libertarian Party of Virginias PAC was still considered active and there had been no formal communication apart from Johns email. According to its most recent campaign finance report, the PAC took in a little more than $6,100 between January and March and had $26,984 on hand as of March 31.

Ward, the partys former chair, said she didnt think any notification to state election officials was necessary, because Virginia only treats Democrats and Republicans as officially recognized political parties. A party must have received at least 10% of the vote in one of the last two statewide elections to be recognized to qualify as a political party.

If a different group wants to try to reincorporate a new Libertarian Party of Virginia, Ward said, theyre welcome to do so. But she questioned what the point would be since the party doesnt have candidates to support.

We couldnt run anybody, Ward said. No ones even willing to put their names behind this.

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Libertarian Party of Virginia dissolving after national party's 'bigoted' turn, ex-chair says - Virginia Mercury

I have always felt a libertarian streak in my view of society, but Im not sure that the term hasnt taken a turn for the worse (Free Staters test limits of N.H. libertarianism, Page A1, Sept. 4). As I recall how William Weld had to promise the Libertarian party that he would remain a Libertarian for the rest of his life in order to be nominated as the vice presidential candidate of that party in 2016, and as I read about Free Staters in Brian MacQuarries article, I wonder where the liberty is.

If democracy is soft communism, then Free Staters seem to be soft fascists, dictating to others what they may think and forcing them to leave their lifelong homes if they dont fall in line. They dont want to be told what to do but are ready to tell others, and with a totalitarian attitude.

The rest is here:
In N.H., its live Free State or leave thats libertarianism? - The Boston Globe

Democratic and Republican candidates for statewide office in Pennsylvania garner nearly all the attention, especially this year, but there are minor-party candidates angling for those seats, too.

The Libertarian, Green and Keystone parties have candidates on the general election ballot for U.S. Senate, governor and lieutenant governor.

If the Keystone Party doesnt sound familiar, dont feel bad.

The party just had its first convention on a small farm in York County in April after some members became disenchanted and left the Libertarian Party because they felt it was tilting too far right, particularly on social issues.

Gus Tatlas, the chairman of the Keystone Party of Pennsylvania, said members consider themselves a coalition of independents. The former Libertarians, he said, did not like hateful rhetoric coming from some Libertarian leaders.

In good conscience, they said they could no longer be affiliated with an organization that doesnt renounce that type of rhetoric, Tatlas said.

So far, Tatlas said the Keystone Party is getting a lot of great feedback and quickly managed to gather enough signatures to field statewide candidates.

Keystones website lists its party platform as government reform, including a part-time Legislature and term limits, an independent redistricting commission, open primaries, ranked choice voting, and school choice.

First, lets take a look at the candidates for U.S. Senate.

Erik Gerhardt, a Montgomery County resident who owns a carpentry business, is the Libertarian candidate for the open seat left by the retirement of Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

On his campaign website, Gerhardt details a platform focused on jobs and the economy, social injustice, police reform, and ending the war on drugs.

Gerhardt, who sports a Philadelphia Phillies cap in his photo on the website, says, Most taxes are nothing short of theft. He supports cutting taxes to their absolute minimum, implementing a flat tax on sales and eliminating property taxes, though thats a state, not a federal, tax.

With fewer taxes, more of the money you work for will stay in your pocket, Gerhardt says.

Gerhardt agrees that police reform is needed, but opposes defunding the police, saying it hurts communities.

Instead, he said reform should begin with police recruits training, such as teaching them jujitsu to subdue suspects and avoid deadly force, and completing community service before graduating from the academy.

Gerhardt says he wants to end the war on drugs, beginning with decriminalizing marijuana, which Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, the states lieutenant governor, also supports.

However, Gerhardt also backs legalizing many other non-addictive drugs, and insisted decriminalization would also stop smuggling across the countrys southern border.

Allegheny County resident Richard Weiss, an attorney, is the Green Party candidate for Senate. He ran for attorney general in 2020.

Weiss recently released a statement outlining a platform aimed at ending fracking, passing universal health care, pursuing peaceful resolutions in Ukraine and in other global conflicts, protecting abortion rights, legalizing marijuana and implementing police reform.

Fracking is ruining the water and health of Pennsylvania, Weiss said of the process to extract natural gas.

Weiss supports a just transition to renewable energy, which, he said, offers more jobs than the fossil fuel industry, protection for the environment and cheaper energy for consumers.

Universal healthcare is vital to help Americans as COVID-19 continues and victims experience prolonged medical problems.

Current health insurance has too many deductibles, co-pays and limitations on coverage, Weiss said. Employers who provide healthcare will benefit from Medicare-for-All by having costs reduced. Employers who do not provide healthcare will benefit from Medicare-for-All by having healthier workers. Medicare-for-All costs less for better care.

Keystone candidate Daniel Wassmer is a Pike County resident who ran for attorney general in 2020 under the Libertarian banner. Wassmer finished third in that race just ahead of Weiss.

According to Ballotpedia.com, Wassmer said in 2020 that he worked as an adjunct professor, attorney and business owner.

Now, lets meet the minor party candidates running for governor and lieutenant governor.

Matt Hackenburg of Northampton County is the Libertarian candidate for governor. He described himself as a computer engineer and former National Guardsman in his Twitter account bio.

Hackenburgs issues on his website include repealing all gun control laws, allowing parents to decide how to educate their children, ending the theft of taxation and opposing the action of the Wolf administration during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Timothy McMaster of York County is the Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor. An auditor, McMaster ran unsuccessfully in a special election for the 48th Senatorial District seat last year.

Keystone gubernatorial candidate Joseph Soloski of Centre County ran for state treasurer in 2020 as a Libertarian. He is a certified public accountant and owned his own firm near Pittsburgh for 30 years before moving to Centre County in 2013.

Soloskis lieutenant governor running mate is Nicole Shultz of York County. She and her husband own a small business selling jams and other items.

Christine PK DiGiulio of Chester County is the Green candidate for governor. She is a former analytical chemist for the U.S. Department of Defense and co-founded the Watchdogs of South-Eastern Pennsylvania and the Better Path Coalition.

DiGiulio opposes the Mariner East pipeline and the fossil fuel industry and supports abortion rights.

Earlier this year, DiGiulio told cityandstatepa.com, Its time to focus on the people 100 percent. We need basic human rights. There are people without clean water in 2022 in Pennsylvania. Thats pretty pathetic.

In an interview with The Daily Local of West Chester in April, DiGiulio said abortion access is part of womens general healthcare and made the case that the country should move away from fossil fuels.

Michael Bagdes-Canning, a Butler County resident, is the Green candidate for lieutenant governor. A teacher, Bagdes-Canning has served as vice president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association and was a founding member of the Better Path Coalition.

Our economy is set up to keep us fighting against each other rather than for each other, he said in a Labor Day statement. The same forces keeping us as wage slaves are also destroying the very climate we depend on for survival, pitting us against each other, using race, gender, immigration status, and our ZIP codes to divide us. When we in the working class unite, that will all change.

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Major party candidates get the attention, but Pa. voters have minor party options, too - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Queen Elizabeth II has passed away after 70 years on the throne. This is the longest reign of any British monarch and the second longest reign ever for the monarch of a sovereign country.

The United Kingdom has been plunged into a period of national heartbreak. Whether it be on social media, in peoples homes, or on the streets, British citizens everywhere have voiced their grief and condolences at the news.

And yet outsiders, especially libertarians, seem puzzled by this ostensibly bizarre, sentimental attachment the British have towards their ruler. How can a nation be so enamored with someone above their station?

When thinking about politics, libertarians can often become too focused on dry, abstract concepts, and overlook ones that many people value, notably culture, community, and history.

Queen Elizabeth II was a great unifier among the British people throughout the countrys ups and downs over the past 70 years. She was a constant figure to rally around who provided soul and national pride, someone who bound together the cultural heritage of the Commonwealth that makes trade and communication easier between peoples.

A representative for Britain across the world, utterly devoted to her duty with resolve, consistency, and humility.

She saw World War II and the ensuing rebuilding of the country, the troubles in Ireland, the Cold War, the industrial unrest that brought Britain to its knees, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and more recently Brexit.

Yet to a libertarian, monarchy is a form of evil. If all humans are to be equal and free, then nobody should have unjustified authority over another; there must be legitimacy, and birthright is certainly not a source of legitimacy in the 21st century.

Of course, this is a completely valid principle on which to construct your politics. The problem is that the real world is not valid, nor is it principled. We are not starting from scratch; we are dealing with nations where institutions, customs, and networks have developed over time, all around the world.

Hierarchical authority exists in every system, whether it be democratic, fascist, communist, or even anarchist. The question of politics is to organize society so that said authority maximizes certain values.

Libertarianism is about the sanctity of the individuals right to go about their life unhampered, on the condition that they do not harm others. Thus, society should be structured around that very principle.

Democracy is an important facet of this: it is the way we attempt to ensure accountability and renewal in governance. But democracy is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end.

Libertarian principles have a strong current of anti-politics. Political decision making, where collective resources and will is used to achieve ends, should be minimized, while private decision making should be maximized.

I can think of no greater nightmare than unchecked, radical political forces having the audacity and entitlement to enact their vision on the populace to reshape a society in whatever twisted image they feel is right at the time.

So why would a libertarian want the highest authority to be political? Why would we make heads of government, who wield hard, active power, also heads of state?

It is often said that the monarchy is useless because it doesnt do anything, but that is exactly the point; it is the unmoving, apolitical bulwark against the political nonsense we all hate. The monarch occupies positions, not to enact anything significant, but to prevent others from occupying them.

I enjoy the fact that every week, the prime minister, the head of government, has to humble themselves and bow to someone who has been around for far longer than they have. I enjoy the fact that the armed forces swear allegiance to the crown, not the political wing of the state.

They are, in essence, conditioned to defer to the embodiment of the nation, the land, and its history, and not the short-termism, greed, and psychopathy of politics.

Constitutional monarchies typically do not have secret police or gross overreaches of government power. They consistently have solid records on stability, civil liberties, and the rule of law.

It is no coincidence that the execution of the Tsars led to the horrors of communism, and the execution of Louis XVI led to imperial France under Napoleon.

This is the great tradition of British politics, law, and philosophy. Unlike in most of continental Europe, we do not deal in grand political visions and all their chaos. We value discovery, cynicism, experimentation, and pragmatism, all anti-political, and thus libertarian values.

We have no time for heavy-handed, radical politics, where everything we know and grew up around is cast aside every four years and subject to whatever theories some maniac has read in a book.

As a libertarian Brit, I do not feel less free knowing the head of state is unelected.

I feel less free when the single-payer National Health Service (NHS) makes me wait half a year for anything beyond a simple doctors appointment.

I feel less free knowing how our horrendous bureaucracy and tax system eats up swathes of public resources.

And I feel less free when the government imprisons people for making fun of others on the internet.

These are the fault of politics and of government, and that is where our attention is most needed. Rest in peace Queen Elizabeth II, long live the King.

For more content on the topic of liberty and monarchy, be sure to check out our short video on the topic by clicking on the button below.

This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.

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You can be pro-freedom and a royalist - Learn Liberty