A post to remind myself that we asked for this

I suspect that most of us here are of the same type of freedom-oriented persuasion. I am writing this to remind myself of why I do the things that I do and put myself through the things I put myself through. I'm doing this for the times where I forget, or become overwhelmed by the copious amount of adversity.

The pursuit of freedom, liberty, autonomy, whatever you want to call it is truly noble. However, we must not forget that there are those who do not play by the same rules as us.

There are those for whom sustainability means nothing. Where a pump-and-dump makes good business sense. Where using coercion and sockpuppeting is simply using another tool in their marketing strategy arsenal.

We don't take these tactics, because not only do we think they are detrimental to ourselves, but to others as well. And having faith that we are on the right side of history means that we need to live by our values. That our strategy of building cool things and helping others is the only way forward for us.

Yes, this leaves us vulnerable to the occasional rug-pull, or Mt. Gox fiasco. Yes, this means that we get to fight off trolls from other projects left and right. Yes, this means that we have to explain over and over again why fundamental principles are preferable to populist hype.

Nobody said that freedom is fair. Or life for that matter. What we're working towards isn't "the perfect system". All we can promise is the freedom to lift your standard of living up; as you work to help lift others' up too. And that is all I want to be able to give my kids, if and when I am blessed with the responsibility to bring them into this world.