Congress passed laws in both 2000 and 2005 that killed online gambling in the US. The FBI began seizing websites of extremely profitable companies. Collectively, these companies were making money into the billions. There are publicly reported revenue and profit statements in the hundreds of millions from PartyGaming, PartyPoker, FullTilt... etc.
Why? Not because the elected officials have morals. To the contrary, it is because politicians are whores. Online casinos started encroaching on real casinos, which had much more political influence, a strong lobby, and directly impact state and municipal tax revenues. Caesar's makes $100m every single day. They weren't going to let this go on very long, no matter what the fallout from investors and owners.
Speaking of whores, our elected officials are perfectly willing and able to stop Bitcoin in its tracks, but they have no reason to. Why? Because it is a speculative opportunity for get-rich-quick venture capitalists and the chosen few they fund. There is nothing threatening about that. In fact, they might make a few bucks themselves along the way.
There are, most definitely, two opposing ways of thinking about Bitcoin. This has nothing to do with the schizophrenia of the community. It is more about the hypocritical nature of that schizophrenic community attempting to reconcile these opposing views. One side views Bitcoin as a tool of democracy - a means of empowering people to conduct transactions without the involvement of the state. The other side views Bitcoin as an investment like real estate or a stock trade.
You cannot share these two views. If you do, you are rooting against yourself. That is my fundamental point. Contrary to your argument that the financial system is not monolithic - it is very much controlled by a very small number of individuals who have crafted a handful multilateral agreements on investment (MAI), as well as enforcement policies, voted into law by every member country of the World Trade Organization and G7. This is a monolithic system of global governance with teeth. That's why countries get fined in the millions or billions for passing laws that protect the environment and workers, and it's why we live in a global system of increased inequality and avarice.
So, you see, by rooting for the venture capitalists, you root against subverting the very thing that distances them from worrying about putting dinner on the table or paying their rent. Our contemporary banking system.
You can't be on both sides of this equation - even if the community believes they can be.