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273 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
273 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
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FUNNY MONEY
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I was rummaging through an antique chest in our attic.
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I found an old dollar bill which said "Silver Certificate"
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redeemable at any bank for one silver dollar.
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I looked at a dollar bill which I had in my pocket but
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it only said Federal Reserve Note. Not a word that I could
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redeem in silver dollars. I thought a note was a debt. I
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figured, Hell, I'll take it to my bank the next time I go
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and get a silver dollar for it. Would be nice to have an
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old silver dollar for a change.
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The next time I was at the bank, I gave the teller the
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old silver certificate. I asked for a silver dollar to
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replace it.
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Her mouth dropped open. She said, "I'm sorry, sir, I
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have no authority to give you a silver dollar for this
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bill."
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"What do you mean? It says right on the bill that it
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can be redeemed at any bank for a silver dollar!"
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"Yes sir, it does. Just a minute while I ask the
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Vice-President to look at it and to give you his decision."
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The Vice-President came to the window with the dollar
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in his hand. He said he was sorry but the redemption of
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these old bills stopped in 1964.
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"How did that happen?" I asked.
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"Congress passed a law taking us off the silver stan-
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dard. They set a date to allow for the exchange of these
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old bills for silver. That ended in 1964. I can only
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suggest if you want a silver coin, you'll have to go to a
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coin shop."
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I stopped at a coin shop on the way home. I found that
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I would have to pay 7 Federal Reserve Note dollars to
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purchase a one dollar silver coin.
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"What a lot of nonsense." I said, "Just what in blazes
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is going on with our money?"
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GOLD--MONEY--SILVER--DOLLARS! What did our Founding
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Fathers have in mind concerning money when they set up our
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Constitution?
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Was it to be a piece of paper with different numbers
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printed on it? No. Do you think they had experience with
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paper money? You bet they did.
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In our Constitution, (Art I, Sec 8), we gave Congress
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authority "to coin money". Further, they are to regulate
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the value of our money. Nowhere in our agreement for this
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business of government was the power given to "print money."
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The money experience of the colonists under the
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Articles of Confederation was disastrous! Each of the
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original colonies had gone through periods of coined money
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and paper money. They had over 100 years of experience with
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money which varied from day to day and from state to state.
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Paper money was no stranger to the men who went to Philadel-
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phia in 1787.
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Roger Sherman was one of the delegates from Connecti-
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cut. He was largely responsible for the restriction in our
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Constitution that money had to be coins and not a piece of
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paper. Roger Sherman had the distinction of being the only
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man to sign three major documents in the early history of
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our country.
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His signature appears on the Articles of Confederation,
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Declaration of Independence and of course, our Constitution.
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In 1752, he wrote a blistering article against paper
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money titled A CAVEAT AGAINST INJUSTICE. He had spent many
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years trying to run businesses in the private sector and
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experienced the evils of paper money first hand. The book
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has been reprinted by Publisher Spencer Judd. It is
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available from the publisher at Post Office Box 143,
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Sewanee, TN 37375.
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Major William Pierce, a delegate from Georgia, wrote
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sketches of all the men who attended the Constitutional
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Convention. This is his description of Roger Sherman:
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"Mr. Sherman exhibits the oddest shaped character I
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ever remember to have met with. He is awkward, un-meaning,
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and unaccountably strange in his manner. But in his train
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of thinking there is something regular, deep, and comprehen-
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sive; yet the oddity of his address, the vulgarisms that
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accompany his public speaking, and that strange new England
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cant which runs through his public and private speaking make
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everything that is connected with him grotesque and laugh-
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able; -and yet he deserves infinite praise; -no Man has a
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better Heart or a clearer Head. If he cannot embellish he
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can furnish thoughts that are wise and useful. He is an
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able politician, and extremely artful in accomplishing any
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particular object; -it is remarked that he seldom fails."
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(Documents Illustrative of the Formation of the Union of the
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American States, House Document No. 398, 69th Congress, 1st
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Session) (1965).
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There was a lot of debate during the convention about
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permission to issue "bills of credit" or paper money. The
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other delegate from Connecticut was Mr. Oliver Ellsworth.
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During debates on money he declared this was a good time to
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shut the door against the future use of paper money. He
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further stated, "The mischiefs of the various experiments
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which had been made, were now fresh in the public mind and
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had excited the disgust of all the respectable part of Amer-
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ica." On the motion to deny permission for the government
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allowing the issuance of paper money, only New Jersey and
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Maryland voted no.
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Roger Sherman was on the committee which considered the
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prohibitions against state governments. Mr. Sherman felt
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this was just the right situation for crushing paper money.
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One proposition was to allow the issuance of paper money by
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the states with the consent of the legislature. He said,
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"If the consent of the Legislature could authorize emissions
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of it, the friends of paper money, would make every exertion
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to get into the Legislature in order to license it."
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He and Mr. Wilson of Pennsylvania moved to add some
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special words. "Nor emit bills of credit, nor make any
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thing but gold & silver coin a tender in the payment of
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debts."
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The entire convention agreed to this clause and
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included it in our Constitution in Article I, Section 10.
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Let's examine that command. No State shall emit bills
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of credit nor make any Thing but gold and silver coin a
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tender in the payment of debts!
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I point out a small yet important item in that restric-
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tion. Any Thing is two separate words and the word thing is
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capitalized. Our Founding Fathers were determined that only
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gold and silver coin could be legal tender. By capitalizing
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thing, they were certain no one could raise a question in
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that aspect.
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If you have a debt with the state in which you live,
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they cannot make any thing a tender. This includes
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repayment of debt in other than gold and silver coin. You
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can volunteer, of course, to pay the debt in anything your
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state will accept. Be it money orders, checks, federal
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reserve notes, wampum, bingo chips or beads.
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But we know there is no gold or silver coin in circula-
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tion. For any state to force you to pay in any Thing but
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gold or silver is a violation of your rights. It is also a
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violation of a specific state duty under Art. I, Section 10.
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The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and is
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binding on all states. The supremacy clause makes it very
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clear.
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On March 3, 1884, the United States Supreme Court
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changed all that. In a case called Juilliard vs Greenman,
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they said the restriction against the issuance of paper
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money was against the states. It did not apply against the
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federal government. The so-called interpreters of law have
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again taken it on themselves to change our Constitution in
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violation of our amendment process.
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A book written in 1886 by a historian named George
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Bancroft called "A PLEA FOR THE CONSTITUTION" clearly points
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out the illegality and fallacy of the decision by the
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Supreme Court. I recommend it highly and it is also avail-
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able in reprint from Publisher Spencer Judd, whose address
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appears above.
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Another authorization we did not allow is for the
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legislative body to delegate any of their duties to any
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other body, under ANY circumstances. However, in 1913,
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Congress gave permission to a private corporation called the
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Federal Reserve System to control our money. More on this
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in a later chapter.
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Looking back to Section 8 of Article I, we find
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Congress is to "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures."
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For the sake of our illustration, and to show how idiotic it
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was to hand over the control of our money, let's pretend
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Congress also gave that required duty of weights to a
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private company. This outfit (whoever it might be) has
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decided an ounce is now a pound and a liquid ounce is now
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and forever a gallon.
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They are controlling only weights and measures . . .
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not the value of an article. Now a gallon of gasoline costs
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you $32.00 instead of one dollar. The cost of a rib steak
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is now about $64.00 a pound. Can you imagine how the people
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would explode if this had happened? Only because Congress
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reneged on its duties to fix the standard of weights and
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measures.
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We know they didn't give this duty to a private outfit.
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They DID give the mandated duty to regulate the value of our
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money to a private company. Now who is breaking the law?
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The same thing happens to the value of our dollar as in the
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above illustration of variations in weights and measures.
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The effect is not as dramatic because they complete money
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manipulation slowly and it is carried on behind closed
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doors. People are mostly ignorant on money issues. The
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bureaucracy and the Fed prefer it that way.
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We often hear the phrase "ignorance of the law is no
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excuse." What do you suppose their excuse is for violating
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our basic law? Ignorance on our part of this dereliction of
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congressional duty is also no excuse.
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Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist Papers, No. 42
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equates the value of coins with weights and measures. "The
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regulation of weights and measures is transferred from the
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Articles of Confederation, and is founded on like considera-
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tions with the preceding power of regulating coin."
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All the gobbledegook in Washington DC will not change
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the fact our elected people in Congress did and are
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violating their oaths. They are breaking the law. And we
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are the victims!
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James Madison, in paper No. 44, speaks of the restric-
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tions against the states (Art I, Sec 10) by saying "The
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extension of the prohibition to bills of credit must give
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pleasure to every citizen in proportion to his love of
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justice and his knowledge of the true springs of public
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prosperity. The loss which America has sustained since the
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peace, from the pestilent effects of paper money on the
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necessary confidence between man and man, on the necessary
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confidence in the public councils, on the industry and
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morals of the people, and on the character of republican
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government, constitutes an enormous debt against the States
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chargeable with this unadvised measure - . . it may now be
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observed that the same reasons which show the necessity of
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denying to the States the power of regulating coin prove
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with equal force that they ought not to be at liberty to
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substitute a paper medium in place of coin."
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Yet the states cry they have to use whatever the
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federal government issues for money. From what we have
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looked at so far, we all know this is pure horse manure.
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The relationship of the states to the national government is
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turned upside down. The states were jealous of their
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sovereignty and that was apparent throughout the convention.
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This was to be a union of states, not an all powerful
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federal government which could do no wrong.
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We've let it get away from us. What consideration can
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our elected officials give to their oath? Perhaps it's just
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a ritual now, only so many words which have to be recited
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each time we return them to the funny farm in Washington.
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If they were honorable men, the oath would be all
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important and binding on them. Then we would not have to
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worry if our Constitution were being obeyed.
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Okay, now what do we have to do? Throw them all out of
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office whenever they come up for election. We certainly
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don't need Republicans, Democrats, liberals, right wingers,
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conservatives or left wingers. There is no requirement that
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a member of Congress be a lawyer either! We need those
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bakers, butchers and computer operators. We need honest
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Americans as our representatives who will restore our
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Republic to the greatness our Founding Fathers intended.
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Get on the phone and call the local offices of all
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Senators and Congressmen. Ask where they found authority to
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delegate their duties to a private company like the Federal
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Reserve or to any other body for that matter. Write letters
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to their Washington offices and ask the same questions.
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Write your Governors and ask if the United States
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Constitution is still binding on the state. Ask specifical-
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ly about the restriction in Art I, section 10! Letters
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every couple of weeks would not be too often to let them
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know you know what is going on. You want it changed.
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Certainly it wouldn't be too much to require them to obey a
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document they swore to uphold.
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Reports are that some of the State Supreme Courts have
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decided that the restriction does not apply to their
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particular states. By what right? Did you agree to allow
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the judiciary of your state to decide that the oaths to
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support the Constitution is no longer binding on them? They
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need to be denied their offices also.
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We now have lawyers running and manipulate our lives.
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Let's make it stop. These sort of decisions only show that
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lawyers are taking care of their own in the mutual admira-
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tion society called government.
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If government thinks we would agree to paper money
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instead of gold and silver, submit a proposed amendment to
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our Constitution. Let's find out if we will allow for the
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change. The amendment process is spelled out in Art V.
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Make them use it and stop these violations of our basic law.
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They really have a good deal. They can issue a piece
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of paper with the number one on it followed by as many zeros
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as they feel necessary. Then it can be called money. They
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also are aware that gold and silver cannot be counterfeited!
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They prefer the paper method.
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AFTER ALL . . . IT'S YOUR MONEY! But then, they will
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probably ask . . . just who are you? Simply remind them.
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REGISTRATION IS ONLY $19.95
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PLEASE READ 'SALES PITCH' CHAPTER
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