Democracy Dies in Decentralization

The mob takeover of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 deeply undermines America’s pivotal role in promoting democracy globally. The rise of decentralized digital currencies will only make things worse.

These cars were made for washing, and that’s just what we’ll do. (Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash)

In 1985, I sat in the backseat of a 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, with my parents in the bench seat in front, pulling up to a nondescript automatic carwash just off of South Volusia Avenue, Daytona Beach Florida.

A typical Floridian Spring day, temperatures were in the mid seventies and the air dewy sweet with the scent of begonias and lilacs that Florida’s legion of retirees were busy tending to.

“Your car is too big.”

“What do you mean my car is too big?” my father asked quizzically at the reed-thin man leaning into the driver side window of our car, hints of chest hair showing over his dirty-white wifebeater, a well-worn clipboard under his arm and a red trucker cap with a Bud Light logo emblazoned across the front atop his head.

“Your car, it’s too big, it can’t fit into the auto wash.”

From the backseat, I could see my father’s slender shoulder blades tensing, his thick…