The word conspiracy theory is for hiding behind the straw man. People in the US just don't realize that their capitalistic system is a corporate system through and through. They don't even notice it. And corporatism means that business and government co-opt into a single net of of power. And its exactly institutions that CFR that stand for this.
It's a bit more complicated than that. I'll agree with you that they are the establishment but it's not a bad thing to explain Bitcoin to the establishment. Maybe if they had a better understanding on what Bitcoin can do for the world then they adopt better policy stances.
Why assume every meeting will go bad or that just being in the establishment makes someone evil? Those are conspiracy theories and they don't help.
Of course if you're inside that bubble you don't realize it and think everything is just fuzzy and perfect. Like say a Larry Page or Mark Zuckerberg, running around and explaining how the future will just be more of the same. Of course they have no problem with working with the government on spying on people.
The CFR has an agenda and I will admit that. Everyone knows what their agenda is. But you have to expect that they'll need Bitcoin explained to them and Gavin is the person to do it. I don't see this as negative.
Would you see it as negative if President Obama wanted to meet personally with Gavin? I would not see that as negative, I would see it as an extremely bullish signal. If they were hostile there would be no meetings, no discussions, no questions and answers.
They just don't call it that. And for someone in such a position to come out in the year 2014 (post Snowden) and play the conspiracy card is very telling. I hope the bitcoin community can really come up with much better positions than that.
Do you really expect a meeting with Obama to go well if you go in hating the US government and everything it stands for? On the other hand if you actually care and just have a difference of opinion on how the government should be run or how thing should be handled that is different.
Bitcoin is not going to overthrow the US government but it is going to change the world and change how all governments operate in the same way that the web, the Internet and the industrial revolution changed everything. It's essential that people in the CFR understand the importance of Bitcoin because whether you like them or not they have control over the legacy institutions and those institutions need to adapt to change.