Cypherpunks

In Josh McHugh’s article, “Politics for the Really Cool”, he brings to light the growing revolution that is taking a stand against Big Government and Economics by supporting cryptography. “Cryptography is the science of scrambling messages so they cannot be read by prying eyes”(435). These “cypherpunks” embrace cryptography and are using it as tool to reform against our big government today. By supporting cryptography, these Libertarians are pursuing an economy that is free from the Big Brother. They are fighting for a market where their banking and investments are hidden from government and hold out hope that the government will respond by giving some slack to their reins that hold the economy where it is today.

Now, just like with everything else in our world, these political and economic views fall on a spectrum. The man from Hugh’s article, Sameer Parekh, seems to fall on a more extreme side of the spectrum. And the opposite side of that spectrum would be a belief that the government plays a delicate role in our economy and that role must be sustained to continue on this path of a Democratic government. So much for the buildup, but I’d like to choose a stance on the spectrum that falls somewhere in the middle.

The picture that is painted by the Libertarians is intriguing but also provokes some insecure feelings. I’d love to see the use of cryptography in America; we’d feel safer from the ever-seeing Big Brother and we’d feel the safety of controlling our own money but with rewards also comes consequences. Who’s going to regulate the cryptography software? How will the Jones’ family’s bank account be safe from criminals if the criminals are also enjoying the cryptic software? Libertarians wouldn’t want anyone to regulate any part of the economic system and the extremists seem to want anarchy and no government at all. I believe there needs to be some middle ground where both sides of the spectrum can come to a compromise.