“You have a right to free speech and a right to religion, but I think the first right is a right to survive; your first human right is the right to live, your first human right is a right to defend yourself, and so when you don’t have a gun you simply can’t effectively do that.”— Ragnar LifthrasirLocation: Los AngelesDate: Saturday 5th FebruaryCompany: Guns N’ BitcoinRole: Chief Range OfficerPro-freedom principles are deep rooted in the Amercian psyche. Liberty is a cornerstone of the US Constitution, which seeks to protect individuals from arbitrary and unreasonable restraint. The Constituion codifying what freedom means for the individual and the state, yet debate on the surface level extents of freedom in modern America mean deeper reasoning is lost.Polarised discourse misses that freedom expects from the individual as much as it provides. An individual must hold and display certain values within a working pro-freedom society. This ideal comes from the ancient Greeks philosophy of stoicism: citizens should apply the virtues of wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. As Aurelius would put it “be a good person”. If the citizens and the state can both respect each other and act with values that are in concert with each other, then a pro-freedom civilisation is possible with all the benefits that this brings. But if the state is oppressive, the rationale actions of the affect individuals, and the long term consequences for their civilisation, are obviously going to be antithetical to progress. In our fast-paced ‘fiat’ system where debate is dominated by short form communication, we are too quick to prejudge and pigeonhole people. Pro-freedom advocates are associated with far right politics. Yet, any long-form conversation with pro-freedom advocates indicates this ideology appeals to a wide political spectrum as it is predicated on sound and sustainable principles. In short, slowing down and spending time with people we find our commonality exceeds our differences. That is the Bitcoin way.In this interview, I talk to Ragnar Lifthrasir from Guns N’ Bitcoin. We discuss what it means to be pro-freedom, the role of the state, the importance of values to build good civilisations, Bitcoin groupthink, printed guns and the safe gun culture. This episode’s sponsors:Gemini - Buy Bitcoin instantlyBlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial servicesSportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts BitcoinCasa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware walletCompass Mining - Bitcoin mining & hostingLVL - Bank on BitcoinBCB Group - Global digital financial Services-----WBD471 - Show Notes-----If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contributeMake a tip:Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2SQR Codes: BitcoinIf you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank youSubscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS FeedLeave a review on iTunesShare the show and episodes with your friends and familySubscribe to the newsletter on my websiteFollow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTubeIf you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.