Replying to this specific email only because it is the most recent in my
mail client.

Does this conversation have to happen on-list? It seems to have wandered
incredibly far off-topic.

On Sun, Sep 20, 2015 at 5:25 AM, Mike Hearn via bitcoin-dev <
bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:

> Also, in the US, despite overwhelming resistance on a broad scale,
>> legislation continues to be presented which would violate the 2nd amendment
>> right to keep and bear arms.
>
>
> And yet the proposed legislation goes nowhere, and the USA continues to
> stand alone in having the first world's weakest gun control laws.
>
> You are just supporting my point with this example. Obama would like to
> restrict guns, but can't, because they are too popular (in the USA).
>
> The comparison to BitTorrent is likewise weak: governments hardly care
> about piracy. They care enough to pass laws occasionally, but not enough to
> put serious effort into enforcement. Wake me up when the USA establishes a
> Copyright Enforcement Administration with the same budget and powers as the
> DEA.
>
> Internet based black markets exist only because governments tolerate them
> (for now). A ban on Tor, Bitcoin or both would send them back to the
> pre-2011 state where they were virtually non-existent. Governments tolerate
> this sort of abuse only because they believe, I think correctly, that
> Bitcoin can have great benefits for their ordinary voters and for now are
> willing to let the tech industry experiment.
>
> But for that state of affairs to continue, the benefits must actually
> appear. That requires growth.
>
> I think there's a difference between natural growth and the kind of growth
>> that's being proposed by bank-backed start-ups and pro-censorship entities.
>>
>
> What difference? Are you saying the people who come to Bitcoin because of
> a startup are somehow less "natural" than other users?
>
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>