That’s very perceptive. You’re much quicker than most. Yes there is some danger in that, but it’s not very probable. I actually think competing currencies would be legalized before all financial regulations would be repealed. The only way financial regs would disappear would be if the public made it politically profitable to remove them. And I think the only way that would happen is if they were getting in the way of enough people, and enough people were confident that other regulations (such as the regulation of the market itself) would be more effective and/or lead to better conditions.
Ultimately I think it will take the death of the dollar before you can even seriously talk about ending the Fed entirely, and even then it will be a tough going, because there will of course be plenty of push to maintain that kind of monopoly power, and there will be plenty of public outcry for our wise overlords to bring “stability, confidence, and strength” to the markets again. (As if.) And the powers that be will be waiting in the wings, more than happy to make that arrangement.
The key will be a large enough coalition that understands enough about the business cycle to be there with the real answers when that happens. And the more people who hear about it beforehand, the better…for even if they don’t become one of the ones who understands it by the time it happens, they’ll be that much more willing to listen to someone who told them it was coming when it actually does. And that someone could easily be you or me. “The public” may not “remember”…but “people” will. And that means your friends, your neighbors, and your co-workers. People you talk to every day. People you could easily plant seeds with. And that’s why Ron Paul is so important. For one thing, the number of people he has already influenced to become educated is incalculable. He has already done more than any man in modern history to rally people to the cause of liberty and engage them to educate themselves…and he’s done it all while being 1 of 535 representatives in Congress, officially representing a small coastal district in Texas…being mocked, laughed at, ignored, and attacked. Imagine what he could do as President.
That’s the thing I think a lot of people don’t realize (or don’t want to admit). Even some liberty-minded individuals like to try to rain on Paul’s parade and claim there’s really nothing he could do as President, he’d still have a Congress to deal with, blah blah blah. Some I think it’s because they truly don’t get it, others I think because they have a need to be contrarian and rag on people, and still others because they’re narcissistic pricks who don’t know how to constructively deal with their jealousy. Not only do I not think these people have a full appreciation for the power of the Executive Branch (especially in the hands of someone who is a voluntarist), but I also don’t believe they fully see the big picture. Most people still don’t even know who Ron Paul is other than possibly “that kooky Republican guy who wants to end the wars”. And that’s only if they’re lucky. The minute that guy wins even the R nomination…let alone the Presidency…the whole game changes. Everything he says automatically becomes infinitely more legitimate, and heard by 100 times more people. The impact someone like that could have, not only on policy in a bully-pulpit sort of way, but on public opinion in a leader/teacher sort of way, is unimaginable.
He talks about how he’s not just trying to win an election, he’s trying to change the course of history. I guarantee you, if that man becomes President, that’s exactly what would happen. And not because of anything he’ll do in government. He won’t pass some law that will redefine the political system. He won’t eliminate some department that history will call “the repeal that changed everything”. He will affect change in the greatest, most important way possible…in the minds of people. Just imagine 4 whole years of that man talking…with the Presidential Seal hanging behind him. And as if that wasn’t enough, times are going to get tougher…probably as tough as they’ve ever been, relatively. People will be ready, more than ever, to listen. You thought people were scared, hurting, ready for change, and looking for a leader with Obama…just wait.
If that wouldn’t change history, nothing would.