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13 November 2012

Gold bug bites Rep. Jerry O'Neil

golden_boy

Rep. Jerry O’Neil, the lovable libertarian gadfly that the good people of Columbia Falls just decided to return to the legislature, is a hard money man. According to a fine story in the InterLake by Jim Mann, O’Neil wants his legislative salary to be paid in silver and gold.

Why? O’Neil fears the dollar will lose its value because the federal government will pay down the national debt by printing greenbacks. In support of his request, he cites Article 1, Section 10, of the U.S. Constitution, which reads in part:

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

I suspect O’Neil also supports the Montana Republican Party’s 2012 platform plank on inflation:

We feel that vigilance must be used in continuing to control inflation, as this represents one of the greatest threats to the well-being of all Americans. We support a return to monetary system based on intrinsic asset values and not a debased fiat monetary policy. We support a full audit of the Federal Reserve System. (May be a statement about a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution here. Requires verification with Official Minutes)

That’s the perfumed version of the MT GOP’s 2010 plank on inflation (no link, but I saved a copy):

We feel that vigilance must be used in continuing to control inflation, as this represents one of the greatest threats to the well being of all Americans.

We support a return to a gold and silver based monetary system and a strong dollar policy based on intrinsic asset values and not a debased fiat monetary policy.

There’s even veiled reference to gold in the 2012 national GOP platform:

Determined to crush the double-digit inflation that was part of the Carter Administration’s economic legacy, President Reagan, shortly after his inauguration, established a commission to consider the feasibility of a metallic basis for U.S. currency. The commission advised against such a move. Now, three decades later, as we face the task of cleaning up the wreckage of the current Administration’s policies, we propose a similar commission to investigate possible ways to set a fixed value for the dollar.

That, of course, was an attempt to appease Ron Paul’s delegates, who support his desire to return to the gold standard. In fact, you can buy Paul’s The Case for Gold as a Kindle book for just one cent (be warned: it’s easier to buy than read). Not everyone agrees with Paul. See, for example, Barry Eichengreen.

So O’Neil’s request to be paid with a sack of silver and gold, just as men were paid 200 years ago, instead of with a check or an electronic transfer of funds (does it count if the electronics hardware uses gold contacts?), does not make him a rogue Republican. His request is fully consistent with the beliefs and proposals of his political party, and with its habit of looking to the future through the rear view mirror.