They could get the EU to pass similar laws, and EU would do it; they have anti-money-laundering interests too.
true. but im still behind 5 proxys. and you can't really not stop innovation.
They can target the BTC/$ interfaces (the exchanges).
sure they can, but only the ones in the states. mtgox is in japan.
They can devote very significant CPU time to screwing with the bitcoin validation process.
no. fallacy. the governments could *maybe* perform double spending, they could not create new coins, or use mine coins, or destroy mine coins. or do anything that would screw with my coins. to perform double spending, they would also need to isolate the node the want to double spend with.
In short, while they can't really kill the underlying bitcoin algorithm, they can certainly apply enough leverage to destroy it's perceived value; destroy the 'general' confidence in the system, thus making the trade value zilch...or close enough to zilch so its not a threat.
they can not destroy my confidence in the system. i could still use it.
This isn't about you. It isn't [wouldn't be] about YOUR confidence in the system. It doesn't matter how many proxies you're behind, and I honestly don't know what that has to do with anything. They're not targeting YOU. Their goal would be to destroy 'general' confidence in the system and destroy the trade value.