WHY GOLD?

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Contents

Preface......................................................xiIntroduction.................................................xvii1 The Declaration Of Independence............................32 The Founding Fathers' Philosophy...........................93 Man Works For Profit And Pleasure..........................134 What Is Money?.............................................155 What Is Capitalism?........................................216 What Is Socialism?.........................................297 Capitalism Vs. Socialism...................................398 To The Glory Of Gold.......................................559 The Ancient World Glittered With Gold......................6110 The California Gold Rush..................................6911 The Domestic Gold Standard................................7512 The International Gold Standard...........................7913 Economic Freedom And Gold.................................8314 Three Variations Of The Gold Standard.....................8915 Inflation Or The Gold Standard............................9316 Depression Or The Gold Standard...........................10117 Fallacies About The Gold Standard.........................10918 How To Return To The Gold Standard........................11719 Gold Goes With Freedom....................................125Selected Bibliography........................................133End Notes....................................................135

Chapter One

In 1776, fifty-six men joined together to declare the independence of man. This was the first time in history man had declared he possessed certain "unalienable rights." Those fifty-six men declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ..." The self-evident truths which the fifty-six Founding Fathers proclaimed, were man's right to live by reason, to choose the purpose of his happiness, and to keep the fruits of his labor. The crucial principle that the Founding Fathers discovered was that man's happiness lay with man, the individual-that man is an end in himself-not the means to the ends of others. These men produced the greatest document the world had ever seen. They produced the American Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration, said the purpose of the Declaration is "to place before mankind the common sense of the subject" and to make this document "an expression of the American mind."

The Declaration, as "an expression of the American mind," concisely states man's rights and defines the purpose and nature of government. It declares:

... that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness ... when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. The Declaration also declares that "... all experience hath shown that mankind is more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." Jefferson's observation was correct. It took 6,000 years of agonizing history before the people cried: "Enough! Enough of the divine right of kings; enough of inquisitions, economic planners, the tyranny of the mob, of bureaucratic whim and of bureaucratic czars!"

The American colonists rebelled at the idea of being the means by which King George III ruled their lives. They rebelled at the idea of "taxation without representation," that they should be taxed to support British troops they never requested nor wanted, which were to be garrisoned in the colonies. They rebelled at the British Navigation Acts, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Intolerable Acts which severely interfered with their trade.

In every stage of these oppressions the colonists petitioned for redress. But their petitions were answered only by repeated injury.

Emotions were running high. It would not have taken much to bring a showdown between the colonists and the garrisoned British troops. The colonists were already fired up by Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech. And when Paul Revere warned them of oncoming British troops, the colonists readied themselves. They foiled the attempted arrest of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Interference in the colonists' lives culminated in 1776 at Lexington and Concord, when the first shots of the American Revolution were fired.

By 1776, the fifty-six Founding Fathers realized that there was to be no liberty, freedom or justice under British rule. They were ready to take a stand-to dissolve all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they solemnly published and declared, "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown . . . And for the support of this declaration ... we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

The price for freedom and independence came very high. It cost some of the Founding Fathers their lives and their fortunes: Five signers were captured by the British as traitors. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Continental Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six signers fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the American Revolution. But the honor of all fifty-six men survived unscathed, to be remembered with a feeling of pride by all future Americans.

These stories are typical of those who risked everything to sign the Declaration. They were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were heroes, men larger than life, who distinguished themselves by forethought and bravery. Twenty-five men were lawyers or jurists. Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers or large plantation owners. They were men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. They signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty could be death if they were captured.

"There is a price tag on human liberty," said James Monroe. "That price is being free men. Payment of this price is a personal matter with each of us." Benjamin Franklin summed it up when he said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." No, freedom is not free. The price is very high indeed.

To secure the rights for which the revolutionists fought and died, the Founding Fathers produced another great document-The Constitution of the United States of America. William Pitt said, "It will be the wonder and admiration of all future generations and the model of all future constitutions." The English statesman William Gladstone described it as "the most perfect work ever struck off at a given point in time, by the brain and purpose of man."

The Founding Fathers took much care to make sure that the essence of the Constitution was clear, that government should have limited power, because the Founding Fathers were familiar with history and had a deep suspicion of all governments. They believed that one of the great threats to a man's life, liberty and property had always been the government under which he lived. They believed that all governments would, under the excuse of "taking care" of the people, actually enslave the people. In the words of George Washington, "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, which if it is not controlled, will destroy you." Thomas Jefferson said, "That Government is best which governs least."

Based on their deep suspicion of governments, the Founding Fathers intentionally subordinated government to the individual. The individual can do anything he wishes, except that which infringes upon another individual's rights; government can do only that which the Constitution allows it to do.

The Founding Fathers knew that government's actions must be limited because it holds a monopoly over force. Since only by force can man's rights be abrogated, they purposely wrote the Constitution to limit government which will protect man's rights. The protection of man's rights from force is the only moral function of government. Thus, the purpose of the armed forces is to protect man from foreign invasion, the police force from criminals, and the court system from fraud-to protect and enforce contracts which are a prerequisite in a higher form of civilization.

Constitutionalism is the only moral government because it is based on and limited by fundamental laws which protect individual rights. Individual rights start with the right to one's life-the basic and essential right, which makes all other rights possible. The right to one's property and the right to keep the fruits of one's labor implement the right to one's life because they are the means by which one sustains his life and can pursue his happiness.

The alternative to property rights, or no property rights, is slavery. It is either-or. This is the right to take action, not the right or the entitlement to an object. There is no guarantee that a man will earn any property, only the guarantee that he will own it if he earns it. There can be no right to the fruits of the labor of others, because this means those others are deprived of their own rights and condemned to slave labor. There can be no such thing as the right to enslave or the right to destroy rights.

So man will know what his rights are the Constitution provides him with objective, well-defined laws.

The opposite of limited constitutional government is unlimited government, or socialism, statism, communism, Fascism, Marxism, and totalitarianism. Under socialism man's inalienable rights, are not respected. Government has the power to subject the people to absolute rule. What man creates, government owns. There are no property rights.

The third type of government, or no government, is anarchy, where no moral standards, rights, or objective laws are recognized. Why Gold?

Constitutional government is designed to protect man's inalienable rights from government-force, coercion, and interference. This is the meaning of political freedom. It is the only valid justification of a government. The Bill of Rights was designed to declare explicitly that individual rights supersede any public or social power by further limiting the power of government. It reinforced man's individual supremacy over government and society. It was designed by the American people, who had been trained for generations to be jealous and protective of their freedoms.

At the close of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked, "What is the kind and form of our government?" He answered, "A Republic-if you can keep it!"

The Founding Fathers never faltered in their conviction that it was a republic they cherished, not a democracy. As Alexander Hamilton said, "We are a Republican Government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of Democracy." The dangers of democracy were also well understood by James Madison, who said, "Democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

The supreme spokesman for liberty in American colonial life was Thomas Jefferson. Looking ahead to future generations he wondered: "Yes, we did produce a near perfect Republic, but will they keep it, or will they in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction."

Thomas Jefferson was right. Today the federal government is destroying individual rights and freedom. The reason is that Americans lack integrity, which is reflected in their elected representatives. Americans are choosing a false sense of security over freedom. They have material abundance without character.

Although our inalienable rights were declared in 1776 and established in 1787, their philosophic and economic principles have yet to be understood by the large majority of Americans. Ignorance is not bliss; it is dangerous. Since America has deviated from the principles of the Constitution by allowing government to regulate most aspects of life especially the economy, we are faced with inflation, confiscation, taxation and recessions.

The Founding Fathers had suffered from oppressive taxation and inflation and fought to free themselves from their unjust and injurious consequences. They understood tyranny begins with encroachment on private property. So they conceived of a nation where men were free to keep what they earned, where no oppressive taxation robbed them of their earnings, and no inflation embezzled their hard-earned savings. Their idea of freedom meant absolute and total freedom, not only from political tyranny, but also from economic tyranny.

They were wise as well as brave. They fought the Revolution to free themselves from political and economic tyranny by sacrificing the present for the future, a feat few men can claim. To secure their property from future government encroachment, they produced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, with a Bill of Rights. To further secure their property and liberty as best they could, they made only gold and silver lawful money.

In fact, gold and silver money was just as important to the Founding Fathers as all their other rights. Gold and silver money was incorporated into Article I, Sections 8 and 10 of the Constitution before the Bill of Rights was written. Only gold and silver money was acceptable to them because it secured their economic freedom (their property and wealth), which, in turn, secured their political freedom. And economic freedom requires monetary freedom and a stable currency made of hard (gold and silver) money.

The next two chapters explain the truths that were implicit in the Declaration's self-evident truths that man has a right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

The remaining chapters explain what should have been explicit in the Constitution, that to secure the inalienable rights of Americans (and to rid the country of the lethal consequences of government regulations and government created inflation), two requirements must exist in society. The first requirement is a proper economic system, which is Capitalism. The second requirement is a proper monetary system based on gold.

Chapter Two

The self-evident truths to which the Declaration and the Constitution refer are based on a philosophy of giving life the highest value-man's life.

Man, unlike the animal, has the conscious ability to decide whether or not to live. An animal instinctively hunts for his food-his only basic need. Man's basic needs-food, clothing, and shelter-must first be produced before consumed. Their production is a lifetime endeavor. To produce them, man must think. And to think efficiently, man must have a philosophy.

The philosophy of the Founding Fathers is based on individual rights. It enables man to decide how to produce his basic needs efficiently, how to keep the fruits of his labor. It allows man to understand and protect his rights.

The Founding Fathers were well educated in philosophy. They were mostly second-generation Americans, schooled in individual rights and profoundly dedicated to preserving the rights of free men. They were raised with a deep respect for science and the "natural law." Their basic philosophical principles of life were founded by the seventeenth-century philosopher John Locke.

Those principles were based on a philosophy which strived to understand reality and the laws of nature. Some key ideas of political thought at the time of the Constitutional Convention were: Man's rights flow from nature-they're natural, inalienable and essential to meaningful existence. The greatest rights were life (self-preservation), liberty, property (to use and dispose of the fruits of one's labor), and happiness. A good society existed where the purpose of government was to recognize and protect these natural rights. The best form of government was republican-representative and responsible. One of the most important and essential ideas was that the people always retain the right of resistance against the government, as a last refuge. Also, see the Declaration for "their duty to throw off such government."

In addition to a strong respect for reality and the search for truth, they respected man's mind, the reasoning faculty that enables him to grasp reality. They understood that reason is man's fundamental tool of survival.

Thomas Jefferson understood the tremendous reasoning power of the mind. He believed the meaning of the phrase "pursuit of happiness" was about achieving a balanced life-the harmony of mind, body and spirit, of thought and action, with a resulting serenity and sense of well-being. His adherence to reason over force was exhibited through his admiration of the Constitution, which he conveyed in a letter to David Humphreys on March 18, 1789:

The example of changing a constitution by assembling the wise men of the state, instead of assembling armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had given them. The constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberation, is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from WHY GOLD?by LESLIE SNYDER BATES Copyright © 2010 by Leslie Snyder Bates. Excerpted by permission.
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