{"id":4382,"date":"2014-01-04T14:25:31","date_gmt":"2014-01-04T14:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/?p=4382"},"modified":"2014-01-04T14:25:31","modified_gmt":"2014-01-04T14:25:31","slug":"you-got-change-for-a-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=4382","title":{"rendered":"You got change for a Bitcoin?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bitcoins have become a form of currency that some of us — myself included — need to understand.<\/p>\n

As of this moment, I don’t quite get it.<\/p>\n

That makes the decision by Republican U.S. senatorial candidate Steve Stockman to accept campaign contributions in this manner all the more bizarre — as if Stockman himself isn’t bizarre enough.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2014\/01\/03\/stockman-enters-legal-grey-area-bitcoin-donations\/<\/p>\n

It’s called “virtual currency,” kind of like virtual video games. You pay it by swiping some computer image across a scanner that records the amount and logs it into a data base. The Texas Tribune reports that Stockman told Business Insider that he would accept contributions in this form and then confirmed it on Twitter and Facebook.<\/p>\n

Stockman’s candidacy against incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is a long shot to begin with. He’s challenging the senior senator in the Republican primary this March. His chances of winning are slim and none, but it’s the slim<\/em> part that worries many of us, given Stockman’s proclivity for goofy statements oddball policy stances.<\/p>\n

The Tribune notes correctly that Stockman has flouted campaign finance laws already. He fired staffers and has faced questions about how money moves around his campaign coffers.<\/p>\n

The Bitcoin makes it easier for contributors to give anonymously, so one might be unable to judge the motives behind the contribution.<\/p>\n

Stockman calls the digital currency issue a matter of “freedom.” I prefer to think that accountability ought to matter as well.<\/p>\n

If you give to a candidate, put your name on it, own up to it … for the record. Then let others determine whose interests are being served.<\/p>\n\n

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Bitcoins have become a form of currency that some of us — myself included — need to understand. As of this moment, I don’t quite get it. That makes the decision by Republican U.S. senatorial candidate Steve Stockman to accept campaign contributions in this manner all the more bizarre — as if Stockman himself isn’t … Continue reading You got change for a Bitcoin?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[655,2526,4426,4531],"class_list":["post-4382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bitcoin","tag-john-cornyn","tag-steve-stockman","tag-tea-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}