Representative Steve Stockman, a Texas Republican, wants the Bitcoin community to reach out to politicians and lawmakers. Educating the political class, he told an audience in New York on New Year’s Eve, will be key in the currency’s development.
He will also gladly take campaign contributions for his Senate bid in Bitcoins.
Stockman’s voice would be welcome on Capitol Hill. The Representative from Texas’ 36th District (“Charlie Wilson’s old district”) told the NYC Bitcoin Center last month that Bitcoin represents a sea change, and it’s something Americans need to allow to thrive.
“It’s a very exciting time to live in the world today,” Stockman said.
One of the Representative from Texas’ main messages to the center was that Bitcoin users need not spurn legislators but engage them in conversation.
“You may have more allies than you realize,” he said.
Stockman likened Bitcoin’s development to the Internet’s which thus far has gone (largely) unregulated in America and many other countries, allowing it to grow and thrive organically.
Stockman argues that anyone trying to apply too much top-down pressure on cryptocurrencies could stifle their growth.
Meanwhile, citizens in the States need to understand who runs Washington and what their agendas are.
Many politicians “feel threatened by anything that liberates individuals,” he said, because politicians view the world through a specific lens.
“People vote for people that pass more laws and impose more restrictions,” he said of American politics.
Stockman also noted that while Bitcoin is not likely poised to overtake the US dollar in America, it could “eliminate a lot of barriers and increase commerce, which is always a good thing for the world and individuals.”