Politics and crypto

[Michael Wilson <0005514706@mcimail.com>]

Cypherpunks:

There seems to be a debate floating through here on how an individual's 
political beliefs may influence their usage of cryptography.

When I was first formulating my personal beliefs regarding politics, it seemed 
that Western democratic nations had created an artificial dichotomy for 
themselves. The political Left had the belief that while you, an individual, 
should have the right to do what you want with your body (free choice, free 
speech, substance use, etc.), they wanted to control what you did with your 
money (social programs, playing field leveling, etc.). The political Right had 
the belief that you should have the right to do what you want with your money 
(free markets, minimal taxation, etc.), but not with your body (right to life, 
war on drugs, etc.). The 'lunatic fringe' opinion, that there was no dichotomy, 
and that you should be able to do what you want with your money/body because 
they are the same thing, was the Libertarian position.

Personally, I feel that a perfect world should be Libertarian. In reality, I 
believe that political systems evolve, and that the supporting infrastructure of
the region in question will dictate the most efficient form of government for it
(I'm sorry, but regions in South and Central America do not have the supporting 
economy to actually afford the luxury of democracy). Politics are a tool for 
control, but as a system, they are subject to the same evolutionary pressures as
organic systems.

Just as lower life forms in simple ecological niches evolve into higher life 
forms in more complex niches, political systems evolve as well. There is a good 
reason why revolutionaries in very poor nations tend to espouse socialist or 
communist rhetoric--those are political systems that can raise the quality of 
life considerably and immediately, a necessity for partisan support. Only once 
there is a strong enough foundation in place can a Nation (not Empire) support 
the freedoms and inefficiencies of a democracy; when the time is right, it will 
happen on its own (witness the collapse of the Soviet Union--the well educated 
population in central, controlling regions decided they wanted a better 
lifestyle). Sadly, this is why many American attempts to foster democratic 
tendencies in satellite nations or in countries in turmoil have failed. It would
be like trying to build a self-sustaining aircraft manufacturing plant in 
primitive Africa. In such a case, it is easy to understand how anomalous this 
is--there is no infrastructure to support the plant, and there is no point in 
having the planes that it would produce. Thus the lack of a political doctrine 
here--it would be inappropriate. Who can tell the proper order of things? Who 
can say that it wasn't a natural occurrence that the USSR brought the region 
from a backward agrarian economy into the industrial age and could go no 
farther? Who can say if the 'top of the food chain' is really a representative 
democracy? Not I. Note that this does not reflect the need, at all levels, for 
basic human rights (Maslow's hierarchy).

Cypherpunks need to view political beliefs as orthogonal to what they doing.  
For propaganda purposes (read 'psychological warfare'), arguments do need to be 
structured along lines that the target audience can understand. When talking to 
the Western Left, push examples that stress the emotional human rights; 
arguments for the Right should be reasoned on an economic basis.  Libertarians 
will understand either. Anarchists will appreciate the 'sand in the gearworks' 
appeal of strong crypto.

As a side note, the Clinton Administration seems to be veering off into 
dangerous territory for citizens of America. They seem to want centralized 
control of both aspects, a person's body *and* money; programs such as 
healthcare, Clipper, national ID cards, national information infrastructures, 
and so forth are all direct yet subtle attacks on such basic freedoms. It 
creates both the motive *and* mechanism for tyrrany.

Michael Wilson
Managing Director, The Nemesis Group
An old hand at political engineering...