The left has gone crazy again.  Newly minted (no pun intended) presidential candidate Rick Perry was chastised for his remarks about the Fed and Ben Bernanke.  Apparently, he came to close to calling the Fed Chairman a traitor.  Michele Bachmann has been a keen voice in auditing and controlling the clandestine efforts of the Fed.  But it has been Ron Paul alone who has made it a key tenet of his policy to audit and eventually abolish the Federal Reserve Bank and its tentacles.

And frankly, these three people might just be onto something good for America.  To be sure, in defense of the Fed, someone has to print the country’s currency.  Just not so much of it!  And then to become the lender and borrower of last resort seems to concentrate too much power into one very secretive and unaudited agency, our national bank.  So when Perry mouthed off, he was rightly suggesting the politicization of the Fed’s actions in previous elections would not be tolerated now.  And Bachmann and Paul both understand that an independent bank which is so secretive in its finances as to preclude any oversight by the people, is a problem for our liberty.

For those of you who are interested in the history of the Federal Reserve and our national bank, check out the timeline below:

Timeline of central banking in the United States

• 1791–1811: First Bank of the United States
• 1811–1816: No central bank
• 1816–1836: Second Bank of the United States
• 1837–1862: Free Bank Era
• 1846–1921: Independent Treasury System
• 1863–1913: National Banks
• 1913–Present: Federal Reserve System

So what are we to think about this very vocal and very political debate?  In my opinion, the Federal Reserve erodes our liberty through its unprecedented printing of the national currency, the dollar.  Debasing the dollar through this printing binge causes inflationary pressures at home and destructive monetary policies abroad.  And worse, as the US dollar declines, begins to reduce the power and prestige of the United States.  Now to be sure, the Euro is likely in bigger trouble. The Yuan is artificially controlled and no other currency in the world will likely supplant the dollar for some time.

However, imagine if we were to move to some form of gold standard where the dollar is once again backed by something of value in addition to the “full faith and credit” of the United States.  There is no question this restriction would control the uninhibited behaviors of the Fed in context of monetary policy. Over time, this national private bank could go the way of it predecessors (And as Ron Paul suggested, forgive the US its $1.6 trillion in debt).  Given that the dollar would be tied to gold, printing for sake of politics or some hair brained stimulus program would be precluded.  And we also wouldn’t have to listen to all of these “sage old men” who know so much more than any of us regular citizens!

So the next time you hear “ban the Fed”, take a moment to contemplate what America would look like without a central bank.  And you need look no further than the founding of this country, give or take a few years!