ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND THE MEANS OF EXCHANGE

Ron Paul writing on competing currencies at The Daily Bell:

"First of all, no one should be compelled by law to operate in Federal Reserve notes if they prefer an alternative. We should repeal legal tender laws and allow Americans to conduct transactions in constitutional money. Only gold and silver can constitutionally be legal tender, not paper money. Instead, it is illegal to conduct business using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve notes. Simply legalizing the Constitution should be a no-brainer to anyone who took an oath of office. Consequently, private mints should be allowed to mint gold and silver coins. They would be subject to fraud and counterfeit laws, of course, and people would be free to use their coins or stay with Federal Reserve notes, as they see fit. Finally, we should abolish taxes on gold and silver, which puts precious metals at a competitive disadvantage to paper money."

We need to go a lot further than this. I'm not a big fan of gold and silver money for one reason. In the end, someone will end up with most of it and will gain the means of control. This has always been true.

Money represents whatever the people agree it represents. It has value because we allow it to. Whether we use paper or tally sticks, the important thing is that we have to create a system of currency that is controlled by the people, not a small group of bankers. We are in the trouble we are because every dollar that is brought into existence is the product of debt. Every dollar tightens the chains of control held by the bankers.

The people must take control of the currency. To do this we have to use a means of exchange that we can create and assign value to. Precious metals must be bought at a price, a price controlled by someone else. If we base our monetary system on this alone we will always be at the mercy of those that control the gold.

I know that the Constitution requires the use of gold and silver as a medium of exchange. This make sense because the Federal government is dealing with foreign powers and the common means of exchange at that level is precious metals. But, that is just at the Federal level. It doesn't address, or at least was not meant to address, local currency. Local banks used to issue their own money. I'm not an economic historian so I don't know all the details and particulars but I do know this is true. I've seen the bank notes.

There is no practical reason that local commerce can't be conducted in local currency. The reason the government would oppose it is clear; they can't tax it and thus they can't use it to control us. It is essentially an organized barter system.

I suspect, no I know for certain, that we are going to return to at least a partial barter system anyway as the dollar collapses. Why not formalize it? Begin by dismantling the IRS and doing away with the income tax. The IRS and interest rates are the two primary methods of control used by the bankers. Restore the economic freedom that is the birthright of the people. Let us create or own wealth and the system of our choosing to represent it.

Neither the current system or a system based on precious metals support freedom; they cause slavery. Both allow control of the means of exchange; whether through the printing press or the accumulation of a finite resource by the few. True freedom requires economic freedom and the control of the money supply. Wealth does not have a limit unless artificial restraints are placed upon it.

Free the people from the money lenders and watch what we can do.