A Proposed Constitutional Amendment to Allow Precious Metals to Compete with Fiat

Miscellaneous General
1

A Proposed Amendment to the United States Constitution

Whereas fiat money, as a medium of exchange, is convenient, but as a store of wealth may be devalued by the government, thereby immorally transferring wealth from the private sector to the government.

Whereas the people should be free to store their wealth in a form of money that the government cannot debase.

Whereas the current system of fiat money cannot be immediately eliminated without catastrophic economic results, thereby rendering a transitional system necessary.

Whereas the tax code is overly complex and a massive invasion of the privacy of the citizens of the nation.

Whereas if a tithe is sufficient for God it should be sufficient for the government.

Be it hereby resolved that the United States Constitution be amended as follows:

  1. All goods and services in these United States may be exchanged in either $Fiat ($F), $Silver ($S), $Gold ($G), or $Platinum ($P).

  2. Federal Reserve Notes are $Fiat.

  3. A $Silver shall be defined as one troy ounce of silver.

  4. A $Gold shall be defined as 1/50 troy ounce of gold.

  5. A $Platinum shall be defined as 1/100 troy ounce of platinum.

  6. Congress shall pass no law regarding the establishment of exchange rates between $Fiat, $Silver, $Gold, and $Platinum. Their relative values shall be allowed to fluctuate freely on the open market.

  7. Thirty days after the ratification of this amendment the Sixteenth Amendment to this Constitution shall be repealed.

a. Income taxes paid in the year this amendment is ratified shall be prorated based on the percentage of tax year remaining when this amendment becomes effective.

i. Income and deductions for the year shall be prorated to obtain their projected annual value.

ii. The existing tax laws shall be used to determine the annually projected tax owed based on the projected annual values.

iii. The annually projected tax shall be prorated to determine the total amount of tax to be paid.

b. Informational tax forms shall be due within 60 days from the ratification of this amendment.

c. The last and final payment of income taxes shall be due 145 days from the ratification of this amendment.

  1. A retail sales tax shall be established throughout the nation to finance the Federal Government.

a. The sales tax rate shall be established by Congress, but it shall not exceed 10% except in periods of a war that has been declared by Congress in accordance with Article I, Section 8 of this Constitution, and then only by a 2/3 vote of Congress. Upon the cessation of hostilities, the maximum rate allowed shall return to 10%.

b. It shall be paid in either $Fiat, $Silver, $Gold, or $Platinum and shall be paid in whatever medium of exchange is used to complete the sale.

c. Items of food, clothing, and shelter are exempt from this tax. Congress may pass laws that specifically define and delineate items of food, clothing, and shelter.

d. This section shall become effective 30 days after the ratification of this amendment with an initial sales tax rate of 10%.

e. No sales tax shall be levied on transactions that convert between $Fiat, $Silver, $Gold, or $Platinum.

  1. Only the physical transfer of the precious base metal in coin or bar form will be allowed for $Silver, $Gold, or $Platinum.

a. Specifically, no Bank, nor any State, nor the Federal Government, shall print any certificate, bearer bond, bill of credit, or any similar token, either physical or electronic, that represents $Silver, $Gold, or $Platinum.

b. In all cases, the first sentence of this section shall be interpreted in its strictest sense. Failure to mention a specific exclusion in the preceding subsection shall not be interpreted to imply that it is allowed. Only silver is silver. Only gold is gold. Only platinum is platinum. No substitutions are allowed.

  1. Coin or bar products produced by a mint on the List of Certified Mints may be accepted as $Silver, $Gold, or $Platinum. Alloyed metals are allowed, but the minimum weight of the precious base metal must be present in the coin or bar product.

a. The United States mint shall not strike coins containing less than the face value amount of the precious base metal by weight.

b. The United States Treasury Department shall periodically, but at intervals that shall not exceed one year, publish a List of Certified Mints that it has verified to produce coin and bar products that contain at least the face value quantity of the precious base metal by weight.

c. The United States Treasury shall randomly sample coin and bar products from the List of Certified Mints to confirm that they are not debasing their products. New products of active mints shall be randomly sampled at intervals that shall not exceed one year. Intentional or habitual debasing of their products by a mint shall lead to their removal from the List of Certified Mints.

d. All coin and bar products returned to the United States Treasury that are found to contain less than the specified quantity of the precious base metal by weight shall be removed from circulation, melted down, refined, and restruck as United States coins.

e. Any mint may submit products to the United States Treasury Department for testing.

i. Mints producing products that contain at least the face value amount of the precious base metal by weight shall be included on the List of Certified Mints unless they have been found in violation of Section 10.c., in which case their inclusion on the List of Certified Mints shall be at the discretion of the United States Treasury Department.

ii. The United States Treasury may charge a nominal fee for this testing, but it shall not be excessive. It shall not exceed the actual cost of the tests by more than 10%.

f. The initial List of Certified Mints is:

i. The United States Mint
ii. The Royal Canadian Mint
iii. The Mexican Mint
iv. The South African Mint Company
v. The Perth Mint of Australia
vi. The Royal Australian Mint
vii. The Austrian Mint
viii. The Chinese Mint
ix. The British Royal Mint

  1. Silver, Gold, and Platinum may be submitted to the United States mint by any entity to be melted, refined, struck into United States coins, and returned to the submitting entity.

a. The United States Treasury may charge a nominal fee for this process, but it shall not be excessive. It shall not exceed the actual cost of melting, refining, and minting by more than 10%.

  1. All $Fiat returned to the United States Treasury shall be used to redeem United States Treasury Bonds denominated in $Fiat.

  2. No additional $Fiat (Federal Reserve Notes) may be created except as may be required to redeem United States Treasury Bonds denominated in $Fiat.

  3. No additional United States Treasury Bonds shall be issued in $Fiat. All future United States Treasury Bonds shall be denominated in either $Silver, $Gold, or $Platinum.

2

It’s a starting point. I don’t expect everybody to agree with every jot and tittle, but I believe we need to move in this direction. Our Founding Fathers created a grave error when they failed to prohibit the Federal Government from emitting bills of credit. It is my intention to be a delegate to the Republican convention at whatever level I may attain and put this forth for consideration.

3

I proposed this in the Republican Party primary. It was shot down by the Kendall County Resolutions Committee without even being brought to the floor for discussion. I shook the dust off my feet on the way out the door. I refuse to be involved with any political party that is content to live with the status quo!

4

Your effort was a noble one. I appears you have learned that neither political party will take up the issues you support. In fact, both parties are designed to keep the status quo while expanding the power of government. What else are they good for?

What are you going to do now in terms of politics? Do you think you will participate inside a political machine again?

5

I agree with the general message. I was just wondering… if we have a gold standard why can’t we make more money? I don’t see anything necessarily evil with printing money. People went to paper money because they thought that it would allow them to carry cash around, and, that would be fine. We should have a gold, silver, platinum standard, and tie the value of the fiat money system to that. Why can’t we do that? If they print money- they should have a value attached to it. I believe fractional reserve banking is an evil, but, I don’t know… that’s just what I think.

6

You should be running as a libertarian.

7

SilentX: “People went to paper money because they thought that it would allow them to carry cash around, and, that would be fine.”

Is that the reason the central bank was created? To provide convenient paper currency to carry around? I don’t think so. I believe one must look at “who benefits” and who does not benefit from central banking (money printing). And that is a rather involved, but interesting, story.

8

make a constitutional amendment to make the economy separated with government

9

But who would vote for such an amendment? The legislatures of the various States? I think not. There is too much for them to gain from intervention in the economy. They have no incentive not to intervene.

10

“make a constitutional amendment to make the economy separated with government”

What does this even mean?

11

I don’t see anything necessarily evil with printing money.

Well, it might not be necessarily evil, but I find stealing wealth to be pretty immoral.

We should have a gold, silver, platinum standard, and tie the value of the fiat money system to that.

That would be a contradiction of terms. If we had a gold standard, we could have paper money backed by ounces of gold. Fiat money is paper money backed by the word of the government.

12

You are wrong in that fiat money is more convenient that other forms. You should amend this to say that fiat money is more convenient than other forms for government sponsored money. Free market determined money is by definition more convenient as it is consumers that determine what money is.