PoW, short for Proof of Work and POS, short for Proof of Stake, have become a political in the bitcoin crypto space.The consensus mechanisms of the protocols be fundamental to the structures and cultures they create. This is completely different to our existing political systems in one way, we are talking about autonomous computer algorithms but in another it echos the past.
In proof of work the concept of and primary importance of work to society, this relates quite closely to what was the Labour movement or traditional left wing politics that primarily aimed to support the working person. For those in the united states its a little more fuzzy, but this is supposed to be like the current Democrats.
Politics has become an ugly subject, corrupt to the core if you ask me, but on the right we have conservative parties of various objectives, but they generally hold the protection of property rights among their highest priority. Referring to the Tories, National, or the Republican parties you can see that your traditional voter demographic shareholders and land owners.
Not so recently this fulcrum has begun to break down, I would argue that workers are realising that PoS type politics aren't helping them and that left wing parties are not really PoW. Both sides of politics have let money be corrupted, not balancing budgets and printing new money for themselves or certain coercive powers in times of need. This it was though had little to do with these primary tenants of worker and property rights, however in reality bitcoiners know that monetary policy is at its core. They can see this thing in politics as altcoin behaviour "PoS Shitcoinery" something in crypto that is considered just a continuation of old corrupting systems.
Why is it that people think the system of value (ie the monetary system) is so disconnected from the system of values (ie the way we form our society)? It's complex and it stinks so people don't want to talk about it but this had lead us to the uniformed nightmare that I think we see today. Bitcoiners know these things are inextricably connected. When you value work in your society you get things done and you get honour and dignity for many. When you value ownership it is not as clear what you get, ownership is more subjective than work and can be manipulated more easily through force and coercion. Work must be carried out by an individual, where ownership requires agreement of the public to enforce. Without property rights we get some-kind of disfunctional bedlam (often people would say anarchy, but that would be offensive to anarchists). We need both things to function well, but proof of stake is a slippery slope. Rent seeking and manipulative behaviours become commonplace and anything but working is fashionable among those who can afford it lead to dysfunctional bedlam also and this time with working people becoming effectively slaves.
So government monetary policy like printing money and deficits, things closely related to inflation, are actually a political activities. At the time it happens the politicians often say they need to do it for social reasons, but these rarely have the long term effects desired and at the same time people don't realise that it destroys the future value of labour. most everyone who is working has a contract to sell their time for money. It is set in advance and so if during the course of that contract the money becomes worth less ie inflation happens then the value of the contract is reduced by that. In addition there is an expectation of ongoing employment which is exponentially devalued. This has a major impact on people well being, probably the highest impact action, because your job and your time are the most valuable thing that a working person has. It often makes the vote for a left wing or Labour party counter intuitive if they run more inflation than their competitor. Labour is supposed to be something supported as a left wing tenant so what ever the social policy may be, often it ends up counteracting itself.
The same happens with conservative parties with often their austerity policies. they are chosen and timed in order to protect asset values and not the worker. If assets are supported it diminishes the strength of your work, because it is comparative Ie: If your house price goes up and you're wage doesn't its the same effect as what you would get with a poorly targeted social program. Austerity occurs in a coercive and corrupt way and this allows wealthy to extend rent seeking behaviours.
Understanding that governments not balancing their books or saving money and printing money when they need it destroys the value of work and labour and this has major social implications. When people ask for austerity or spending we have to ask for who and how because often it works against us. governments to be fair actually need to save money for rainy days. It makes sense and PoW vs PoS also put a clear perspective to this. It's the new, better defined, less corrupted, left and right wing politics and maybe not in the way you expected.
Ps: Bitcoin is not political, I feel I need a disclaimer here given the content obove suggests so strongly that it might be, also.... I have a new post coming up describing how Bitcoin in practise is not completely PoW.
