I think a lot of people in the US still have a strong sense of patriotism/nationalism. Nationalism is a trick dictators/tyrants/corrupt govs have used for decades to control people.
There are only 100 seats in the US senate. How can 'we' participate in that? There are somewhere around 330 million people in the US, represented by just 100 people, who mostly act in their own self interest. How can one person properly represent on average ~3.3 million people?
You may be confused about the use of the term "free" in this context. It isn't about giving stuff away for $0 in compensation, it's about freedom in the sense of liberty and freedom to modify software you own.
It's a shame that companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and others who have benefited so much from the work of organizations like the FSF don't pony up. These companies are notably absent from the current list of patrons[1].
A good book to read for anyone interested in economics is called "The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy", by Mervyn King, who was head of the Bank of England for about 10 years and during the financial crises of 2007-8. In the book, he discusses "the alchemy of money" which he roughly defines as how money isn't necessarily backed by any tangible assets. A lot of what happens in the banking system is pure alchemy. A fascinating read IMO.
Your opinion is irrelevant. The market has the last word, and the market has already decided Bitcoin is the most valuable and useful. You can verify this by looking at hash rate, market cap, and distribution (amongst other things). You may not like it, so feel free to downvote me, but the facts are indisputable.
Something tells me this battle isn't over. What's stop stop Trump from issuing another executive order that reinstates the tariffs? That's what he's been doing in a battle with the supreme courts on his Muslim ban for the past year.
Excuse me for not confirming your biases. I will, however, continue to think freely as I choose. I don't care much for echo chambers. If that does not work for you, please do ban me.
It's not easy but it can be done. The US is a nation of immigrants. Unless you're native American, you either emigrated here or descended from someone who did.
It turns out hard things are hard. There's no free lunch or get rich easy schemes.
I'm an immigrant (I was completely broke when I moved to the US) and my parents were immigrants and their parents were immigrants.