August 31, 2008 - By True Patriot and Congressman
Ron
Paul
Many who agree with me on a lot of other issues, do not understand
my enthusiasm for gold and sound money or why I spend so
much time studying and talking about monetary policy. It's
true that I talk about money differently than most, but the
fact is sound money offers many benefits. For example – peace.
Can sound money really bring about peace? Actually, it plays
a big part in peaceful international relationships. Money based
on commodities, rather than paper, is not subject to government
manipulation, and is a key component to free and honest trade.
History shows that if countries engage in trade with each other,
their governments tend to find ways to get along for the same
reason you do not kill your customers at your place of business,
even if they occasionally annoy you. If someone outright cheats
you, however, you may engage in “war” by taking
them to court, for example, and the relationship will sour.
Governments and central banks with unfettered power to manipulate
currency also have the ability to cheat their creditors. One
way they do this is to simply create enough currency to pay
off debts. This devalues the currency and “cheats” the
recipient out of what they are owed. It would not be fair if
you watered down your product the way our government waters
down its currency, so it is not hard to understand, in these
simplified terms, why loose monetary policy contributes so
much to ill will and war around the world.
Sound money, on the other hand, simply is what it is. Removing
governmental power to manipulate money, removes the temptation
for government to spend, print and cheat. Sound money ensures
that our government’s spending priorities would be brought
into sharp focus and reduced to only what we can afford.
Sound money also limits the ability to wage wars of aggression.
Imagine how much more careful Washington would have to be about
starting a war if they did not have this financial sleight
of hand at their disposal! Fiat currency allows government
do expensive things they should not be doing while paying the
bills with cheap money. The Federal Reserve has lately been
auctioning off large amounts of treasury bills as a way to
finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our crushing
entitlement burden. The resulting devaluation of the dollar
is quickly eroding our image as a good trading partner in the
world. As a consequence, there is therefore more talk of economic
isolation and war.
This vicious cycle of spending, fighting and inflating is
not what Americans want. It is what the government wants, and
it has had to deceive the citizens into allowing and supporting
it. Sound money curbs the government’s ability to engage
in these shenanigans and reduces the wars we fight to only
truly defensive ones, for which Americans are more than willing
to stand and fight. So in these ways, sound money is very conducive
to peace.
Read more Articles by Ron Paul at http://www.house.gov/paul/legis.shtml
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