2016 was the year of political surprises. The polls got it wrong in elections around the world and decisions moved away from mainstream globalization which benefited emerging markets and the top corporations, towards a concern for local interests.

Words such as populism, voter stupidity, liberalism, progressiveness, pro & anti establishment sentiment has been used to explain the situation. From an outsider's view, it's simply the old' left vs. right narrative where the loser feels they have to suffer living under the tyranny of the majority, it reminds one of the scene from Ridley Scott's Gladiator where the emperor states that the only way to keep the mob happy is to distract them with more games.

Despite what appears to be an increasingly polarised system, there is real progression towards building new communities defined by their own set of rules that are not dependent on the broken blame system that is the status quo. One of best explanations of free market economics is the wonderful youtube clip you can find of Milton Friedman's "Power of the Market - The Pencil". Go to a Bitcoin meetup and you will find a congregation of entrepreneurs, traders, programmers, organic food salesmen and employees of mainstream banks who all have differing political views and interests but who are working together without the need to vote for a leader or to agree on a single ideology to govern themselves. This very much reflects the bitcoin eco system where disparate groups in a multitude of sectors keep the bitcoin infrastructure afloat.

Bitcoin sets the building blocks for a new way for society to function, through voluntary tribalism which is a set of rules that govern a self chosen demographic built on popular consensus thereby making polarizing factors such as left wing / right wing politics obsolete.

The invention of the internet allowed people to form communities outside of their immediate geographical area. Social media with P2P networking connected the members globally and allowed them to communicate more effectively. The next stage of bitcoin evolution, will enforce the set of rules that defines their self-government. This will include commerce and trade which is currently centralized by broken and inefficient governments.

In 2016, it is evident that the people around the world are disenchanted with the bureaucracy, corruption and ineffectiveness of their respective government. If the world is running on instagram, the government is still using floppy disks. Bitcoin can pave a way for new way of governance that is up to date with the technology that we live and breathe today.