Sound Money Defense League

Sound Money Background

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Sound money is discovered, not invented. Through market processes, the “most marketable commodity,” as Austrian economist Carl Menger described money, makes itself known.

Gold and silver are money – not by government decree, but because they have proven to be over the test of time, by maintaining their value.

But for more than a century now, the federal government and the Federal Reserve – a privately-owned bank cartel which enjoys a federal charter – have warred against sound money in America.

 

They’ve ended the free circulation of gold (and, for a time, criminalized its ownership), while taxing those who sell, spend, or exchange it. Unbacked paper currency and electronic credit have replaced our constitutional money: gold and silver.

 

The Constitution’s Framers were mindful of the hardships brought by continentals, the fiat paper money issued by the Continental Congress to finance the Revolution. Notable Founders — including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Paine — warned about the ravages of issuing unbacked currency.

 

That’s why the Constitutional Convention overwhelmingly embraced gold and silver.

Washington wrote that paper money was “wicked.” Madison called it “unjust” and “unconstitutional.” Jefferson wrote that “its [paper money’s] abuses also are inevitable and, by breaking up the measure of value, makes a lottery of all private property.”

 

While the debasement of the Federal Reserve Note — commonly known today as the “dollar” — is, in large part, the result of inflationary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve System. Its effects are pervasive; Governments can fund enormous welfare-warfare states, while everyone holding the currency can only watch as their wealth is sapped away.

 

The root of the problem is in federal policy. However, there are practical steps that can be taken at the state level to promote the use and acceptance of sound money.

 

Since 2015, the Sound Money Defense League has advocated for state and federal sound money legislation while providing interested readers, politicians, and concerned citizens with timely information on the subject.

 

To that end, the Sound Money Defense League and United Gold Group are proud to present the 2020 Sound Money Index – the authoritative and comprehensive ranking of all 50 U.S. states’ monetary policies.