Miracle on Main street: Starting the Miracle/The Proper Course for Government
STARTING THE MIRACLE BY
REDUCING THE IGNORANCE FACTOR
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So: William Gladstone called the United States Con-
stitution “The most wonderful work ever struck off at a
given time by the brain and purpose of man.” Yet, its
nature and providence are unknown—according to a sur-
vey in the Bicentennial year—to over 90% of the American
people. Ninety per cent of the American people are igno-
rant of a great many lawful guarantees of prosperity and
happiness that are theirs simply for the asking. Amazing!
The ignorance factor is not limited to the people; it is
shared in the realms of government as well. I have inter-
viewed many important government officials who are al- »
most totally unaware of their rights—or anyone else’s—
under the very document they are sworn to support. I
have had the dubious pleasure of introducing for the first
time to numerous state and local officials the prohibition in
Article I Section 10 against paper money.
When an honest official discovers that he’s been taking
money under state authority in violation of the Constitu-
tion and his oath, he is shocked. We act strangely under
shock. One typical response I hear is “Why didn’t anybody
tell me this? How did this happen?”
59
60 THE MIRACLE ON MAIN STREET
One judge told me in open court “The state must use the
currency Congress issues.” This statement is wrong on
two counts:
1. The Congress, by law, does not tell the States what shall be
tender. The Constitution, thanks to the more knowledgeable
Judge Sherman, provides that the States shall tell Congress what
lawful tender shall be: nothing but gold and silver coin.
2. Congress doesn’t issue Federal Reserve notes; a non-
governmental, private “banker's bank’ issues these notes.
Thus, a man with considerable power over the economic
fortunes of his peers is completely ignorant of both the
natural and statutory laws of money. Again, I must repeat,
it’s no reflection on his moral character or intelligence or
even his judicial preparedness. The ignorance of money is
widespread, deep. We are all victims of the money black-
out. The Friends of Paper Money work as hard keeping us
ignorant of money as some parents work keeping their
kids believing in Santa Claus.
After the initial shock, the honest public official begins to
worry in the back of his mind about all this. One told me
he figured that there must be a law somewhere that permit-
ted the state to make paper money a tender. Otherwise, he
said, ‘The whole damn state’s crazy.” When he failed to
turn up any such law after weeks of looking, he ex-
perienced profound misgivings about the whole purpose
of government. He even considered resigning. He and his
colleagues who were taking and giving money in the name
of the state (or municipal) government were actually per-
juring their Constitutional Oath! It tore at his conscience.
The whole damn state’s not crazy. For, in my opinion,
no one in state or local government is violating his oath of
office by accepting paper money or by paying in paper
money. As long as people are willing to contribute to their
government (or accept from it) paper money, copper, di-
gits, automobiles, or real estate the government is under
no moral obligation to change its ways. Any law that pro-
hibits government from accepting contributions from its
STARTING THE MIRACLE 61
citizens or discharging its debts cheaply would be a bad
law indeed.
Article I Section 10 doesn’t prohibit the state from accepting
paper money. It merely prohibits the state from declaring
that things other than gold and silver coin are lawful ten-
der. In other words, when the state Attorney General is
asked ‘What does the state declare is legal tender?’”’ he
must answer “Gold and silver coin.”
If any property or sales tax form or citation—any bill
from state or local government, even a parking ticket—is
labelled “Dollars,” you have the right to ask the state
if it means dollars of the money of account of the United
States, and if so, what is the money of account?
The state is not likely to answer that the instrument is
not denominated in the money of account, nor is it likely
to tell you what the money of account is. You'll be in a
quandary.
Of course, there will be no state law declaring paper to
be a tender in payment of debts. It would be an embarras-
sing, flagrant violation of the United States Constituiion.
Here’s an example of how rigidly a state must adhere to
Article I Section 10. This is a case cited in the NOTES TO
DECISIONS involving Article I Section 10 as published in the
Tennessee Code Annotated:
Since nothing but gold and silver coin is a legal tender, tender
in bank notes of the bank of the United States to redeem land sold
under execution, if objected to will not be good, although equal to
coin.
—LOWRY v McGHEE (1835)
16 Tenn. 242
So there it is, still on the books in the 1980 edition, a case
in which the court had no choice but to sustain a man’s
objection to paper currency, even though the currency was
redeemable in gold and silver coin! You can imagine what that
court would have said to irredeemable Federal Reserve
paper.
If there is no law entitling the state to enforce payment in
62 THE MIRACLE ON MAIN STREET
paper money, and if the state cannot tell you what the
money of account of the United States is, you and the
state have reached an impasse in your economic favor, or
what the St. Louis monetary realist Amos Bruce calls “a
Mexican standoff.’” You'll pay as soon as they show you
how you can.
Yes, if you choose NOT to contribute paper money to
your state and local government, you have the total
BLESSING of the United States Constitution (and the
ghost of Judge Roger Sherman, who will surely be smiling
_ down upon you from the heavens) until paper money is
made redeemable for gold and silver coin. You even have
the blessing of the courts and officials of government, since
they have sworn of their own volition to support Judge Sher-
man's 17 words.
And what if some government official should come after
you and bug you in any way? You have the protection of
the law, not he. All states have official misconduct statutes.
Here’s the one for Tennessee:
TENNESSEE CODE 39-3203 Official Oppression —Penalty. —lf
any person, by color of his office, willfully and corruptly oppress
any person, under pretense of acting in his official capacity, he
shall be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars
($1,000), or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one (1)
year.
Now, the important words in this statute are “willfully
and corruptly.” This means that you must first inform the
official of Article I Section 10, of the fact that bank credits
and Federal Reserve paper money are not gold and silver
coin, and that you know he is bound by oath to support
the Constitution. Explain to him that he, being part of
government, is limited to taking only the money of ac-
count of the United States, and until you know what that
money is, you cannot pay lawfully and properly. You see,
you're helping him not to break the law by educating him. If
you wanted to be especially helpful, you might send him
a copy of this book. (Thank you.) Now you've given him
fair warning. If he tries to oppress you from this point
STARTING THE MIRACLE 63
onward, he is being ‘willful and corrupt,” and all you
have to do—if the District Attorney plays dead—is ap-
pear before a Grand Jury yourself, tell those taxpayers
what this official did, and get him indicted!
Don’t believe the false notion that government officials
are permitted to operate corruptly and safely behind
“sovereign immunity” laws. There are no sovereigns in
America (except you, the people), and no government offi-
cial is immune from justice if he abuses your rights. You
can establish a personal fortune upon the ruins of anyone
who runs roughshod over your Constitutional guarantees:
he who would unlawfully jeopardize your property loses
property to you, and that’s what justice is all about. Here’s
the law: ;
42 UNITED STATES CODE 1983
Civil action for deprivation of rights. Every person who, under
color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any
State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of
the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to
the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by
the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an
action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.
Perhaps George Bancroft’s “abstract of the avowed con-
victions of the great statesmen and jurists who made the
Constitution” will intensify the potency of Article I Section
10 in the minds of otherwise oppressive officials and elimi-
nate any need for legal action. Show them Bancroft’s
words:
History can not name a man who has gained enduring honor by
causing the issue of paper money. Wherever such paper has been
employed, it has in every case thrown upon its authors the bur-
den of exculpation under the plea of pressing necessity.
Paper money has no hold, and from its very nature can acquire
no hold, on the conscience or affections of the people. It impairs
all certainty of possession, and taxes none so heavily as the class
who earn their scant possession by daily labor. It injures the hus-
bandman by a twofold diminution of the exchangeable value of
1. Upheld by the Supreme Court only last year: “The innocent individual who is
harmed by an abuse of governmental authority is assured that he will be compen-
sated for his injury.”” Owen vs. City of Independence, 100 S.Ct. 1398 (1980).
64 THE MIRACLE ON MAIN STREET
his harvest. It is the favorite of those who seek gain without will-
ingness to toil; it is the deadly foe of industry. No powerful politi-
cal party ever permanently rested for support on the theory that it
is wise and right. No statesman has been thought well of by his
kind in a succeeding generation for having been its promoter.’
I have found that as soon as even the most ornery gov-
ernment enforcement people figure out what the issue is all
about (and you have to help them, work with them), they
automatically join your side. They HAVE to, because the Con-
stitution is on your side. Not to agree with you is to deplore
the Constitution, and many people still consider that
TREASON.
1. Bancroft, op. cit., p. 304
For a vigorous continuing education in money, receive the monthly bulletin of the
Monetary Realists Society, P.O. Box 10744, St. Louis, MO 63129. Twelve issues for a
costs donation of $10.
STARTING THE MIRACLE 65
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IDEASPHERE MONEY
These are examples of the money George Washington was comp-
laining about. They are J.0O.U.s containing uplifting mottoes—
“Perseverando”’ (“Keep on truckin’ ’’), “We Are One,” “In God We
Trust,” etc.—as well as the signatures of important dignitaries. The
people trusted them as long as they could be redeemed in gold and
silver. It took years, though, for the situation to get so bad the people
started shooting up state legislatures and rioting and pillaging. Fi-
nally, Article I Sections 8 and 10 of the Constitution solved all the
problems.
George Washington wrote to John Laurens in 1781, “Experience has
demonstrated the impracticability long to maintain a paper credit
without funds for its redemption.”
The Constitution appoints the States as the only guardians of those
funds. But our states have been sleeping, because we have allowed
them to.
“This constitution, and the laws made in pursuance thereof,
shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state
shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of
any state to the contrary notwithstanding . . . and all officers
both of the United States and of the several States shall be bound
by oath to support this constitution.’
—ARTICLE 6, CONSTITUTION of
the UNITED STATES
“Woever having taken a lawful oath, shall affirm willfully,
corruptly and falsely touching a matter material to the
point in question, shall be guilty of perjury, and on conviction
shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary... .”
—TENNESSEE CODE 39-3301
‘A ithough important decisions on abortion payments, racial
quotas and the commercial use of genetic enginecring attracted the
most attention, the Supreme Court's 1979-80 teri offered one
overriding theme: The expanding right of Americans to sue
the government.
“While seldom fodder for newspaper headlines, a citizen's
power to hold government and its agents responsible for lawless
actions is as essential to a republican form of government as is the
power of the ballot.’
—Richard Carelli,
Associated Press,
Washington, July 6, 1980
66
10
THE PROPER COURSE
FOR GOVERNMENT
we
Weg position I recommend for state, county, and munic-
. ipal officers under Constitutional Oath is this: accept paper
. money from all persons who tender it voluntarily, but do
| not attempt to enforce payment from those who raise the
» Constitutional objection.
|. This position lets you live with your conscience; it’s rea-
‘sonable, moral, and serves the cause of freedom. Some
officials are relatively immune from economic fluctuations;
cost of living raises keep them more or less comfortable in
the most turbulent times. Besides, it may not be in your
. best interests to speak out. If you took too original a stand,
you might suffer complicated reprisals from higher-ups.
' No, the key to financial liberation is properly in the hands
. of the people, the people you serve. Let them guide you.
If the people neglect to object to paper, take their money.
' [regret saying it, but folks who labor under the illusion
. that they are powerless to correct their own misery deserve
their misery. Persons who let their right be intimidated by
' wrong deserve intimidation. Persons who neglect to learn
' the benefits and privileges guaranteed by the Supreme
. Law of the Land deserve getting fleeced. Persons who don’t
i 67
68 THE MIRACLE ON MAIN STREET
know the difference between gold and paper don’t know
the difference between reality and dreams, so let them pay
for living in the ideasphere by giving up their property to
the tentacles of inflation. Let them get their satisfaction
from complaining and contributing to toothless organiza-
tions.
On the other hand, persons who know the law and ex-
ercise their rights under the law are lawfully immune from
enforcement of payment to any state or local agency of any
amount of tender not declared to be the money of account
of the United States.
Now, some officers might feel the temptation to answer
objections to paper tender by denominating paper debts at
current gold or silver quotations, so they can remain true to
their oath of office. Here’s the scenario: A taxpayer objects
to a $600 property tax assessment in paper dollars, so the
official levies the tax at one ounce of gold (say gold at that
moment is $520 per ounce), plus small silver coins to make
up the remainder. This is patently unfair: gold and silver
prices on the free market fluctuate very capriciously from
hour to hour. You’d be working an unlawful! hardship on
the objector, while contributing to the erosion of the eco-
nomy and your own fortunes as well, no matter how nice a
cost-of-living-pay-raise deal you might have. The objector
is leading you to high ground in the face of a flood. Don’t
fight him! Just go by the law.
The people—and you, too— are entitled to a constant
and dependable value of gold and silver coin, responsibly
regulated by Congress, not the free market.’ That’s the
whole purpose of Article I Sections 8 and 10. The “free
market,” by the way, is not really a free market at all, but a
1. The tax is not assessed in gold and silver but in paper dollars.
2. This is not to say Congress should ignore the free market. Rather, its regulations
should issue in response to free market prices of gold and silver as commodities,
buffering us from the dangers of wild fluctuations. Is this not carrying out the Con-
stitutional mandate to”’promote the general welfare’’?
THE PROPER COURSE FOR GOVERNMENT 69
handful of dignitaries who declare gold and silver prices
each morning in a stately private boardroom in London.
Whom are these gentlemen more interested in, you or
themselves? If you disapproved of their mischief, how can
you vote them out of office? With a Congressionally regu-
lated gold and silver currency, you could specifically un-
vote those ae seee eves who a with the value of
your money.
What all this means is that knowledgeable persons, per-
sons who object to paper money under Article I Sections 8
and 10 and who insist upon paying in the money of ac-
count of the United States are immune from all taxes,
fees, debts of any kind under state authority until paper
money is made redeemable in gold and silver coin. This is
perfectly just. Shouldn’t obedience to law and truth contain a
reward? Isn't it fitting that economic benefits should flow
abundantly upon those with the knowledge and courage
to do the right thing by law?
History’s paramount lesson is this: when tragedy
gathers on the horizon, the knowers act to survive. Only
the knowers survive. The knowers. The Noahs.
If you still doubt the authority of the people and Article I
Section 10, consider these principles from American Juris-
prudence, supported by cases too numerous to cite:
1. No public policy of a state can be allowed to override the
positive guaranties of the Federal Constitution. (16 AmJur 2nd, 70)
2. No emergency justifies the violation of any of the provisions of
the United States Constitution. (16 AmJur 2nd, 71)
3. Neither emergency nor economic necessity justifies a disre-
gard of cardinal constitutional guaranties. (16 AmJur 2nd, 81)
4, Any attempt to do that which is prescribed in the Constitution
in any manner other than that prescribed, or to do that which is
prohibited is repugnant to that supreme and paramount law and is
invalid. (16 AmJur 2nd, 82)
§155. As imposing obligatory. duty.
Si ince the constitution is intended for the observance of the
judiciary as well as the other departments of government and the
judges are sworn to support its provisions, the courts are not at
liberty to overlook or disregard its commands, or countenance
evasions thereof. It is their duty in authorized proceedings to
give effect to the existing constitution and to obey all constitu-
tional provisions, irrespective of their opinion as to the wisdom
or desirability of such provisions, and irrespective of the conse-
quences.
If the constitution prescribes one rule and the statute.another
and a different rule, it is the duty of the courts to declare that the
constitution, and not the statute, governs in cases before them
for judgment.
—16 AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE 2nd
“. . . with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Provi-
dence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes,
and our sacred Honor.”
—A DECLARATION By the
REPRESENTATIVES of the
UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, In GENERAL
CONGRESS Assembled, July 4,
1776
70
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