PoliticalAction.com Blog

Peter Schiff gives his views on a wide variety of issues such as National Policy , Foreign policy the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Healthcare etc

by Nelda Carrizales Skevington on Dec 07, 2009

There have been many invitations to participate in debates and forums coming through our office (Deborah Medina – Candidate for Governor of Texas 2010). The public certainly deserves to hear from each of the candidates. Unfortunately, we’re receiving multiple reports that each time we confirm, the governor cancels. It seems that Rick Perry has learned, over the years, that in order to protect his incumbent status he must be in total control of who he is on stage with and holds the media hostage to his demands.

University of Houston students planned a huge Texas gubernatorial forum. Sixteen Republican and non partisan conservative organizations came together to host the event. They rented the theatre and called the media. Production took months. They called Rick Perry’s office to make sure they scheduled it on a day when he could attend. In the end, after months of planning and selling tickets to cover the cost, Perry would not show. The students and other groups had to return ticket money in disappointment.

In early November, the Texas Press Association scheduled a gubernatorial debate in Galveston. “We thought it would be great for the city of Galveston to have the publicity surrounding such an event,” stated Ed Sterling of the Association. The city would have benefited economically and since the devastation of Hurricane Ike they have undergone a tremendous amount of hardship. The invitations were sent and Rick Perry and Kay Bailey were confirmed. Debra Medina was confirmed and two days later we were told the event was canceled as the demands of Rick Perry were not being met. The sponsor had invited all the candidates.

KERA, a public broadcasting station in Dallas, is publicizing that Rick Perry and Kay Bailey will be debating on January 14th. During an interview earlier in the year, they had assured us that Debra would be included as she had already met the criteria of the station. “When I called on November 19th, Shelley Kofler, News Director for KERA let me know that Debra is not invited to debate at this time, even though we meet their criteria,” said Penny Langford Freeman, Medina’s campaign manager. “There are demands by the other candidates, even to where the mic and the seating is placed. So much cost goes into the production that we can’t risk having the two front runner candidates canceling.” Kofler stated.

This is how fat cat incumbents perpetuate their political career: holding the media hostage to their demands thus preventing open and transparent debate by all the candidates.

“I have been a grass roots activist for a long time. I have seen this type of thing go on and voters deserve to know about it. Governor Perry has taken on the attitude of arrogant aristocracy. This sort of behavior is why the public trust in our elected officials is at an all time low and the word “politician” has become synonymous with “cheat and liar,” said challenger Debra Medina.

“We know that it is not against the law for Rick Perry to cancel but the arrogant demands that he be allowed to dictate who else is on stage is a tragic abuse of power that ultimately harms the very public he is sworn to serve,” Medina added.

Why does Rick Perry have so little respect for the voters and the rule of law? Why doesn’t he want to have healthy debate with all of the candidates? “I will tell you why” said Langford Freeman, “Not only is he arrogant. He does not want you to hear what is really going on in this state and he knows that Debra Medina is dedicated to telling the truth.”

The Debra Medina campaign will press on all fronts to insure that the people are given the opportunity to hear from all the candidates. “If Rick Perry wants what is best for Texas, he will stop these aristocratic power plays and show up to debate ALL candidates. Texans deserve to hear that debate,” said Medina.

“We are demanding that he come down off of his royal high horse and talk to the people who pay his salary,” Langford Freeman said.

Congressman Ron Paul

Dear Friend of Liberty,

December 16th is a special date. It is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party when early American patriots stood up to the tyranny of the King George. In 2007, we made history together by raising over $6 million in one day.

Now, we need to make this December 16th special by helping propel my son, Rand, to the United States Senate. Our fellow lovers of Liberty are organizing a Money Bomb for Rand and we need your help.

Please visit his website, www.RandPaul2010.com this Wednesday, December 16th and donate. A successful day will launch Rand into the homestretch of his primary with the momentum he needs for victory.

Rand is running a tremendous race in Kentucky and is currently leading in the polls. Sending Rand to Washington would be the greatest victory for limited government and the Constitution we have seen in years.

Imagine the Senator Rand would be! He would fight to end undeclared wars, burgeoning deficits and the expansion of government that threatens all of our freedoms. And, Rand’s election will send a message to the establishment that we are taking our country back and the pave the way for future success together. Visit www.RandPaul2010.com to learn more.

I hope you can help by donating to Rand this Wednesday, December 16th. I know I will be. Together, we can take our country back one contribution at a time.

In Liberty,

Ron Paul

Dear Fellow Libertarian/Fan of Freedom,

The strength of our movement is deafening to the powers which fear our ability to fund candidates and help them get elected.

This year alone, we helped to make viable the campaigns of Peter Schiff and Rand Paul. Our donations are helping them to be competitive as they fight for our constitutional rights.

Now, another candidate deserves your consideration – Bruce Poliquin, who is running for Governor of Maine.

Bruce Poliquin stands for limited government, and for giving citizens more control over the size and reach of their state beaurocracy. He demonstrated this during the past few months by helping to fund the Taxpayer Bill of Rights movement in Maine that requires the voters to approve increases in state spending or taxes. No other candidate for Governor except Poliquin committed his own personal money to help our movement.

Bruce Poliquin believes that the best government is the smallest government. When we help elect him, he will audit and reduce the size of one of the most bloated state governments in the United States. He will fight for the voice of the people. He will be one of us!

Just as we helped Peter Schiff, Rand Paul, and his father before him, we need to help Bruce Poliquin win! The best way to do that is to donate $25, $50, or even $750 (the limit) before Christmas.

Visit his website www.BruceForMe.com to learn more about Bruce Poliquin, candidate for Maine Governor. Don’t delay your contribution to another deserving candidate who will help reshape our great country!

Respectfully,

Robert Newman
MaineLiberty@yahoo.com

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPa)
3915 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
www.lppa.org

For Immediate Release: December 10, 2009

Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) at Media-Relations@lppa.org or
Michael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / chair@lppa.org

Harrisburg –

According to the Pennsylvania Department of State (DOS), the Libertarian Party increased their number of registered voters by 2.3% over the past six months. Meanwhile, the total number of registered voters in Pennsylvania declined 0.8%.

Voters registering without a party affiliation rose 2.2% while the two old parties lost over 65,000 voters, a 1.1% decline for Republicans and a 0.7% decline for Democrats.

Michael Robertson, LPPa Chair stated “The shift in voter affiliation shows the voters are realizing the two old parties do not represent them anymore. The fact that the number of Libertarian voter registrations is growing faster than even independents indicates voters are also realizing the ideals of the Libertarian Party represent the best hope for the return of small government to our Commonwealth.”

Two recent Rasmussen polls support the trend toward libertarian principles. A poll a few months ago revealed that 62% of Americans prefer a smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes. A poll released on Dec. 8 reported that 76% of those polled believed that a free market economy was better than one managed by the government.

The increase in Libertarian Party registration is more impressive given the challenges imposed by the DOS. Instead of distributing current
registration forms with Libertarian Party as an option, Pedro Cortés,
Secretary of the Commonwealth, authorized the DOS to distribute from a stock of 300,000 obsolete voter registration forms that do not include the Libertarian Party as a listed option for party registration.

The DOS refused the Libertarian Party’s request for the obsolete forms to be removed from inventory. S. Douglas Leard, LPPa Media Relations Chair commented “Due to the current distribution policy by the DOS, many voters are unaware of the option to register as a Libertarian in Pennsylvania. I encourage anyone registering for the first time or changing their registration to download their form from www.dos.state.pa.us so they get a current form.”

Michael Robertson summarized “People are realizing the Libertarian Party best represents the ideals that inspired the founding of our nation. The ideas that all people are born with equal inherent rights and people can generally make decisions for themselves better than others can make decisions for them are as sound today as they were in 1776.”

The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in Pennsylvania
and the United States. More than 200,000 people across the country are registered Libertarians, and Libertarians serve in hundreds of elected offices. For more information, please visit www.LP.org or www.lppa.org.

In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech today, President Obama asserted:

“[T]he world must come together to confront climate change.”

President Obama will be attending the Copenhagen UN climate change conference on December 18 where he will be an active participant “as [in the words of ‘The White House Blog’ for Dec. 10] the global community, with the United States in a leading role, works towards securing the strongest possible outcome in Copenhagen.”

Lisa Jackson, United States EPA Administrator, is already in Copenhagen making promises to work with Congress to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

“We will work closely with our Congress to pass comprehensive clean energy reform through the U.S. Congress … and lowering U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% below current levels by 2050.”

If you oppose U.S. participation in a new UN climate change agreement which would lead to a loss of U.S. sovereignty, costly “climate debt” payments to developing nations, economy-destroying caps on greenhouse gas emissions, and further empowerment of the UN as a world government, then contact your representative and senators and tell them to oppose any Copenhagen UN climate change agreement.

Thanks.

Your friends at The John Birch Society

Next week, Congress will vote on President Obama’s plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan. These wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on almost a decade. There are first and second graders in this country who have never known an America at peace. To them, America is always at war.

President Obama inspired us in his run for President with his message of peace. He told Iowans about his courageous stance against the war in Iraq, “I opposed this war from the beginning. I opposed the war in 2002. I opposed the war in 2003. I opposed it in 2004 and 2005 and 2006.”

This is why Obama was elected: to bring peace and prosperity to our country.

Obama told the people in Illinois who elected him to the Senate, that “the consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not – we will not – travel down that hellish path blindly.”

He told us that we should “not stay the course or take the conventional path because the other course is unknown.” These are the words of a man of peace, and I believe that we can remind the President that he can be that man of peace.

Help me remind the President of something very basic: Peace is good, and war is bad. I’ve set up a site at www.TiredOfWar.com where you can send the White House a message, written using his own words and some of your own, that peace is good.

We do not want to join a battle to occupy a foreign country indefinitely, no matter how much the military-industrial establishment may press for it. General Petraeus already said in May that Al Qaeda doesn’t even operate in Afghanistan any more, and President Karzai agreed.

But we do want to join the battles that President Obama told us about before he became President, the battles, he said, “against ignorance and intolerance, corruption and greed, poverty and despair.” Those are the battles that, “we willingly join.”

Click here to send your message to the White House now.

www.TiredOfWar.com

We will end these wars. It’s going to take time, but we will bring peace to America.

Mr. President, be the President that we voted for, the President that you promised to be. We agree with you that we should not “travel down this hellish path blindly.”  It is time to come home.

Regards,

Alan Grayson
Member of US Congress

Obama White House Issues EPA TAX Threat!
The Obama White House has threatened that the EPA will dictate command and control measures AKA socialism to by-pass Congress. Triggering a set of legal responsibilities and obligations to control emissions as well as an arsenal of options and powers to regulate CO2 including increasing taxes and penalties if you do not comply.

The Obama “Green Energy Tax” plan is worse than the “Regressive Cap-and-Trade” legislation is that Congress calls “the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” which taxes every single person in America. Every time anyone flips on a light switch under “Cap and Trade,” some tax dollars are collected.

But the Obama “Green Energy Tax” plan doubles the price of your electric bill immediately with the tax money going straight to Obama and the Federal Government. Obama is taking Congress out of the loop so he doesn’t have to face political reality – that’s YOU and ME! He’s getting the EPA to do his dirty work!

HALT THE OBAMA “GREEN EXPRESS” IN COPENHAGEN!
FAX Obama And All 100 Senators – STOP Obama’s CLIMATE TREATY!

Obama – EPA & UN Lie About Global Warming

Global Warming Scientists Are Manipulating And Suppressing Data To Fabricate Global Warming Hysteria.

Carbon Dioxide DOES NOT Cause Global Warming!
Data clearly shows that global temperatures are decreasing even as Carbon Dioxide levels are increasing.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) GW Data
The UN IPCC’s predicted warming path (pink region) bears no relation to the global cooling data that the IPCC has observed in the 21st century to date.

Just two weeks ago an unknown entity hacked into the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia servers and uncovered irrefutable proof that Global Warming Scientists were manipulating and suppressing data to fabricate the Global Warming Hysteria. Many have called this ClimateGate – The final nail in the coffin of Global Warming.

Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency declared Monday that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are a threat to public health and welfare. Even as Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla ordered an investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency’s alleged suppression of a 98-page report, co-authored by EPA analyst Alan Carlin that questioned the science behind global warming.

Obama’s EPA action is a threat to every American family and business and it leads to regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

The suppressed EPA report details how regulating gases like carbon dioxide WILL NOT reduce global warming. Carlin’s report states that the information the EPA is using is out of date, and that even as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased, global temperatures have declined.

Inhofe said “He (Carlin) came out with the truth. They don’t want the truth at the EPA,” he’s ordered an investigation. “We’re going to expose it.”

Meanwhile in Coppenhagen so called scientists perpetuated the Global Warming lie saying this decade is set to be the warmest on record. Ignoring their own UN data and the truth that for seven and a half years global temperatures have been falling rapidly.

Obama Is Forcing A Green Tax DISASTER ON ALL Americans!!

HALT THE OBAMA “GREEN EXPRESS” IN COPENHAGEN!
FAX Obama And All 100 Senators – STOP Obama’s CLIMATE TREATY!

Obama will dictate a 17% reduction below 2005 emission levels by 2020 and a 30% by 2025. The problem is there is no plan on how to accomplish this goal without rationing energy and punitively taxing Americans. Furthermore, there is no scientific reason to undertake these goals.

A President with America’s best interests would attend the conference to demand integrity, honesty and dignity from the scientific community and rebuke the false findings and junk science that has dictated so much of our energy and environmental policies for the last decade. – Barack Obama is not a President with America’s best interest at heart.

Now that Obama has bowed is head subserviently to dictators and royalty, he intends to sign a provisional carbon emissions target which would bring America to its knees.

THE STAGE IS SET IN COPENHAGEN FOR THE . . .
WORLD CLIMATE ORDER Based on Lies!!
December’s Climate Treaty is happening now, Obama is in the Copenhagen Climate Conference on December 8 and 9, 2009. He is not there to serve America’s interest. He is going to Copenhagen to save the Climate agenda and to announce his pledge that American businesses and citizens will reduce emissions by force if necessary.

This is where I need your help IMMEDIATELY!

YOU CAN HALT THE OBAMA “GREEN EXPRESS” IN COPENHAGEN!
FAX Obama And All 100 Senators – STOP Obama’s CLIMATE TREATY!

Through your fax blasts and your giving, the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE) can greatly assist the disruption of such a disastrous decision! If Obama, Al Gore, and their cronies have their way, we will be ratifying this “greenhouse debacle” within days.

Now that Barack Obama has bowed is head subserviently to dictators and royalty, he intends to sign a provisional carbon emissions target which would bring America to its knees.

Obama will dictate a 17% reduction below 2005 emission levels by 2020 and a 30% by 2025. The problem is there is no plan on how to accomplish this goal without rationing energy and punitively taxing Americans. Furthermore, there is no scientific reason to undertake these goals.

A President with America’s best interests would attend the conference to demand integrity, honesty and dignity from the scientific community and rebuke the false findings and junk science that has dictated so much of our energy and environmental policies for the last decade. – Barack Obama is not a President with America’s best interest at heart.

STOP THE COPENHAGEN GREEN WORLD ORDER!

We have prepared special faxes (see below) to be sent to President Obama and every Member of Congress. Let’s put the brakes on this very bad blow to our American free enterprise system. Will you assist the CDFE today?

All the G20 nations know perfectly well that “adaptation” to global warming would destroy their economies! It is my hope that someone, anyone who is a key insider adviser to President Obama, will let him know!

The last United Nations negotiating session before next month’s Copenhagen summit on climate change has ended in Spain, yet there is no agreement yet. There is still a change for good to win over evil.

Unfortunately, most Americans are uninformed about this climate change issue. You see, that is one of the main reasons why we exist—to use research and education to PROPERLY INFORM Americans on these free enterprise matters. Unfortunately, this treaty is a matter of life and death to us as a sovereign nation. In 1776 the United States was formed as a completely sovereign nation.

We must do everything within our power
to keep that sovereignty!!
This takeover of our sovereignty amounts to real TREASON!!

The Copenhagen Climate Treaty has two basic objectives:
* Prescribe energy use and consumption to the “haves”!!
* Shift wealth from the “haves” to the “have nots”!!
The accomplishment of these two objectives amounts to outright socialism at best-and global totalitarianism at worst. Both are NOT a win-win!!

Obama stands ready to sign the treaty!

That’s why our Senators must hear from us right away!

YOU CAN HALT THE OBAMA “GREEN EXPRESS” IN COPENHAGEN!
FAX Obama And All 100 Senators – STOP Obama’s CLIMATE TREATY!

Copenhagen can lead to a significant political agreement, but if it happens it will be a major disaster for the developed world, with the United States the biggest loser, since it would bankrupt the nation to bribe poor countries into surrendering their own development.

Insiders at the negotiating session in Spain said the missing ingredient – even more than the absence of agreement on targets, money and technology – was trust.

But treaty organizers are determined to have it pass. And with the help of our U. S. Senators and President Obama, it will! Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg said at the close of the Spain session, “There will be a deal in Copenhagen, that’s quite clear. We won’t solve the problem in Copenhagen, but there will be progress.”

It is up to you and I to STOP THAT PROGRESS!

Part of the Copenhagen Climate Treaty unbelievably reads: “Industrialized countries have a dual obligation under the Treaty, representing their overall responsibility for keeping the world within limits of the global carbon budget and ensuring that adaption to the impacts of climate change is possible for the most vulnerable.

THIS DUAL BINDING OBLIGATION TAKES THE FORM OF EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS AS WELL AS THE PROVISION OF SUPPORT TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.”

Yes, that means we are giving away a part of our great country’s sovereignty!

If all elements of the Treaty (which hardly anyone knows a lot about!!) were to be voted in place, this December, it would establish a GLOBAL GOVERNMENT for the first time in history!!

This tyranny must come to a screeching HALT!

It is time for YOU to choose: tyranny or freedom?

YOU CAN HALT THE OBAMA “GREEN EXPRESS” IN COPENHAGEN!
FAX Obama And All 100 Senators – STOP Obama’s CLIMATE TREATY!

Here is precisely how this Copenhagen Climate Treaty will adversely affect you:
* Double digit inflation as a result of all goods and materials becoming much more expensive
* Raise the deficit through increased borrowing by our Treasury
* Transfer economic growth and profits from the United States to lesser-prepared countries
* Delay the recovery of the United States, which will affect EVERY SEGMENT of our society
* Increased U. S. manufacturing job loss through new cap and trade laws
* Be even more in debt to communist China
* Increase your state and federal taxes
* Regulation of personal spending on energy by law and high prices
* Move away from the U.S. Dollar to a One-World currency
* Increased costs per gallon of gas
THE LIST GOES ON AND ON!

And yet, too few Americans have ever researched this subject at all! Or, they’ve seen Al Gore interviewed on some television program; and believe all the “doom and gloom” that he professes.

You thought that Obama’s “Healthcare Reform” was the most important issue. Lord knows, we’ve lived through all the debates these past few months—and months to come! YET&..

If we do not stand firm against Obama and the U. S. Senate ratifying this Copenhagen Treaty, YOU may be enslaved to a new Green World Order! This will not wait until someone else is president. This will not even wait until the elections of 2010. We are facing devastation next month!

YOU CAN HALT THE OBAMA “GREEN EXPRESS” IN COPENHAGEN!
FAX Obama And All 100 Senators – STOP Obama’s CLIMATE TREATY!

Let your voice, fax and check book be heard!

NO MORE SOVEREIGNTY SUICIDE!!
Even though President Obama pledged his allegiance to uphold the Constitution at his inauguration, his actions have not meshed with what can happen, literally, next month!

The U. S. Constitution dictates that treaty ratification must have approval votes by a TWO-THIRDS majority in the U. S. Senate.

Please join us in this SOVEREIGNTY SUICIDE STRUGGLE!

Act now! Don’t delay.

We will be looking for your urgent fax to the President and every U. S. Senator.

The nation you save will be your own.

Sincerely,

Ron Arnold
Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
www.cdfe.org

P.S. I cannot underscore how important this issue really is. Do not let our President or our Senators SELL US OUT under the mis-guidance of helping other under-developed countries. The United States is the most generous and compassionate nation on earth already. If we allow our sovereignty to be destroyed, we will no longer have the ability to continue and increase our generous aid programs – or even feed our own people!

YOU CAN HALT THE OBAMA “GREEN EXPRESS” IN COPENHAGEN!
FAX Obama And All 100 Senators – STOP Obama’s CLIMATE TREATY!

Or SEND your donation to:

Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
Dept Code – 3347
12500 NE 10th Place
Bellevue, WA 98005

The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise is a non-partisan education and research organization which works on free enterprise studies, public policy research, book publishing, conferences, white papers, and media outreach. We are a tax-exempt educational organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Tax Code. The Center was founded in 1976 and has been exempt since 1977. The Center does not seek or accept government funds. Contributions to the Center are tax deductible.

Statement of Congressman Ron Paul
United States House of Representatives

Statement Introducing the Free Competition in Currency Act

December 9, 2009

Madame Speaker, I rise to introduce the Free Competition in Currency Act of 2009. Currency, or money, is what allows civilization to flourish. In the absence of money, barter is the name of the game; if the farmer needs shoes, he must trade his eggs and milk to the cobbler and hope that the cobbler needs eggs and milk. Money makes the transaction process far easier. Rather than having to search for someone with reciprocal wants, the farmer can exchange his milk and eggs for an agreed-upon medium of exchange with which he can then purchase shoes.

This medium of exchange should satisfy certain properties: it should be durable, that is to say, it does not wear out easily; it should be portable, that is, easily carried; it should be divisible into units usable for every-day transactions; it should be recognizable and uniform, so that one unit of money has the same properties as every other unit; it should be scarce, in the economic sense, so that the extant supply does not satisfy the wants of everyone demanding it; it should be stable, so that the value of its purchasing power does not fluctuate wildly; and it should be reproducible, so that enough units of money can be created to satisfy the needs of exchange.

Over millennia of human history, gold and silver have been the two metals that have most often satisfied these conditions, survived the market process, and gained the trust of billions of people. Gold and silver are difficult to counterfeit, a property which ensures they will always be accepted in commerce. It is precisely for this reason that gold and silver are anathema to governments. A supply of gold and silver that is limited in supply by nature cannot be inflated, and thus serves as a check on the growth of government. Without the ability to inflate the currency, governments find themselves constrained in their actions, unable to carry on wars of aggression or to appease their overtaxed citizens with bread and circuses.

At this country’s founding, there was no government controlled national currency. While the Constitution established the Congressional power of minting coins, it was not until 1792 that the US Mint was formally established. In the meantime, Americans made do with foreign silver and gold coins. Even after the Mint’s operations got underway, foreign coins continued to circulate within the United States, and did so for several decades.

On the desk in my office I have a sign that says: “Don’t steal – the government hates competition.” Indeed, any power a government arrogates to itself, it is loathe to give back to the people. Just as we have gone from a constitutionally-instituted national defense consisting of a limited army and navy bolstered by militias and letters of marque and reprisal, we have moved from a system of competing currencies to a government-instituted banking cartel that monopolizes the issuance of currency. In order to reintroduce a system of competing currencies, there are three steps that must be taken to produce a legal climate favorable to competition.

The first step consists of eliminating legal tender laws. Article I Section 10 of the Constitution forbids the States from making anything but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts. States are not required to enact legal tender laws, but should they choose to, the only acceptable legal tender is gold and silver, the two precious metals that individuals throughout history and across cultures have used as currency. However, there is nothing in the Constitution that grants the Congress the power to enact legal tender laws. We, the Congress, have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, but not to declare a legal tender. Yet, there is a section of US Code, 31 USC 5103, that purports to establish US coins and currency, including Federal Reserve notes, as legal tender.

Historically, legal tender laws have been used by governments to force their citizens to accept debased and devalued currency. Gresham’s Law describes this phenomenon, which can be summed up in one phrase: bad money drives out good money. An emperor, a king, or a dictator might mint coins with half an ounce of gold and force merchants, under pain of death, to accept them as though they contained one ounce of gold. Each ounce of the king’s gold could now be minted into two coins instead of one, so the king now had twice as much “money” to spend on building castles and raising armies. As these legally overvalued coins circulated, the coins containing the full ounce of gold would be pulled out of circulation and hoarded. We saw this same phenomenon happen in the mid-1960s when the US government began to mint subsidiary coinage out of copper and nickel rather than silver. The copper and nickel coins were legally overvalued, the silver coins undervalued in relation, and silver coins vanished from circulation.

These actions also give rise to the most pernicious effects of inflation. Most of the merchants and peasants who received this devalued currency felt the full effects of inflation, the rise in prices and the lowered standard of living, before they received any of the new currency. By the time they received the new currency, prices had long since doubled, and the new currency they received would give them no benefit.

In the absence of legal tender laws, Gresham’s Law no longer holds. If people are free to reject debased currency, and instead demand sound money, sound money will gradually return to use in society. Merchants would have been free to reject the king’s coin and accept only coins containing full metal weight.

The second step to reestablishing competing currencies is to eliminate laws that prohibit the operation of private mints. One private enterprise which attempted to popularize the use of precious metal coins was Liberty Services, the creators of the Liberty Dollar. Evidently the government felt threatened, as Liberty Dollars had all their precious metal coins seized by the FBI and Secret Service in November of 2007. Of course, not all of these coins were owned by Liberty Services, as many were held in trust as backing for silver and gold certificates which Liberty Services issued. None of this matters, of course, to the government, which hates competition. The responsibility to protect contracts is of no interest to the government.

The sections of US Code which Liberty Services is accused of violating are erroneously considered to be anti-counterfeiting statutes, when in fact their purpose was to shut down private mints that had been operating in California. California was awash in gold in the aftermath of the 1849 gold rush, yet had no US Mint to mint coinage. There was not enough foreign coinage circulating in California either, so private mints stepped into the breech to provide their own coins. As was to become the case in other industries during the Progressive era, the private mints were eventually accused of circulating debased (substandard) coinage, and with the supposed aim of providing government-sanctioned regulation and a government guarantee of purity, the 1864 Coinage Act was passed, which banned private mints from producing their own coins for circulation as currency.

The final step to ensuring competing currencies is to eliminate capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver coins. Under current federal law, coins are considered collectibles, and are liable for capital gains taxes. Short-term capital gains rates are at income tax levels, up to 35 percent, while long-term capital gains taxes are assessed at the collectibles rate of 28 percent. Furthermore, these taxes actually tax monetary debasement. As the dollar weakens, the nominal dollar value of gold increases. The purchasing power of gold may remain relatively constant, but as the nominal dollar value increases, the federal government considers this an increase in wealth, and taxes accordingly. Thus, the more the dollar is debased, the more capital gains taxes must be paid on holdings of gold and other precious metals.

Just as pernicious are the sales and use taxes which are assessed on gold and silver at the state level in many states. Imagine having to pay sales tax at the bank every time you change a $10 bill for a roll of quarters to do laundry. Inflation is a pernicious tax on the value of money, but even the official numbers, which are massaged downwards, are only on the order of 4% per year. Sales taxes in many states can take away 8% or more on every single transaction in which consumers wish to convert their Federal Reserve Notes into gold or silver.

In conclusion, Madame Speaker, allowing for competing currencies will allow market participants to choose a currency that suits their needs, rather than the needs of the government. The prospect of American citizens turning away from the dollar towards alternate currencies will provide the necessary impetus to the US government to regain control of the dollar and halt its downward spiral. Restoring soundness to the dollar will remove the government’s ability and incentive to inflate the currency, and keep us from launching unconstitutional wars that burden our economy to excess. With a sound currency, everyone is better off, not just those who control the monetary system. I urge my colleagues to consider the redevelopment of a system of competing currencies and cosponsor the Free Competition in Currency Act.

Far from fading away like the establishment expected, Congressman Paul’s message of freedom, peace, and prosperity continues to garner unprecedented coverage.

After a tremendous string of media hits to start December, Ron Paul’s biggest television appearance yet will come this Tuesday, December 15, as he co-hosts CNBC’s Squawk Box from 8-9am eastern!

It is incredible for a member of Congress not in his party’s leadership to be receiving the amount of attention Ron Paul has seen in recent months. Our movement is truly making great progress.

Thank you for continuing to follow Dr. Paul’s media appearances. You can be sure the producers take notice of the increased viewerships their shows receive when they interview Congressman Paul.

Tune in to CNBC’s Squawk Box this Tuesday from 8-9am eastern and support Ron Paul’s message of economic freedom!