Secession and Money

By Russell D. Longcore

I have an acquaintance in the Patriot Movement name of Sam Kerodin. Sam has a website at www.iiipercent.blogspot.com Sam is hardcore, to say the least. I respect him and his efforts.

The name of his blog is derived from the Three Percent. Historians state that about three percent of Colonials took up arms and challenged King George in the Secession of 1776.

Recently, Sam and some friends have brainstormed a terrific idea to start a new firearms manufacturing company named III Arms. www.iiiarms.blogspot.com. They will begin manufacturing the 1911 pistols and battle rifles on the AR platform.

They have also taken a decided step toward secession, as they intend to create a liberty community in the New American Redoubt. They have chosen Idaho as their new home. The weapons manufacturing facility will be at the center of their new Galt’s Gulch-like planned community, named The Citadel.

In a recent posting at Three Percent Patriots, there was a recommendation to look at the Lakota Nation and what they are doing about money. Specifically, the Lakota Sioux nation has a link to the Free Lakota Bank. This South Dakota bank is setting up bank accounts that only accept precious metals coins for deposit and the bank has a 100% reserve requirement. So this bank is repudiating the fiat money system AND the fractional reserve system at once. Kudos to Free Lakota Bank.

The bank links to a mint at www.aocsmint.com, where you can trade in your Federal Reserve notes for gold, silver or copper coins of .999% purity. The concept is excellent. The design of some of the coins is flawed. If you look at some of the coins, you will see that they have a stamped value. There is a one-ounce gold coin that says “Two Thousand” on its face. I saw another Silver coin that had the Dollar sign ($) in the design.

Very bad. Very bad indeed.

Washington might consider these coins to be counterfeit currency. And you know that one counterfeiter with guns will run all the other counterfeiters out of business. Ask Bernard von NotHaus of Liberty Dollar how the Feds regard alternate currencies, even when your currency are strictly warehouse receipts. Federal prosecutors successfully argued that he was trying to pass off the silver coins as U.S. currency. Coming in denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50, the Liberty Dollars also featured a dollar sign, the word “dollar” and the motto “Trust in God.” He was convicted and got a 15 year prison sentence.

Here is the lesson about money for all lovers of liberty and advocates of secession.

In a new nation/state, freshly seceded from the United States of America, it will be crucial to establish a new monetary system. Anything even remotely resembling the American money system will fail. The new nation/state must utterly forsake legal tender laws in favor of the free market.

The free market is perfectly capable of determining what will be used as money. In the Colonial days of the 18th Century, the most prevalent money used was the Spanish Silver Dollar. It was one ounce of silver. It was ALL ABOUT the weight, not the value.

The Coinage Act of 1792 stipulated that a US Silver Dollar contain 374 ¼ grains of .999 pure silver. The first thing the Act did to screw up the money was stamp various values on the coins, such as $5,$10, $50 and so on.

The Act also prescribed the penalty for counterfeiting as death. I like that part.

But I digress.

If new nation/states are going to be successful with the Power of the Purse, they will have to allow the free market to determine what money is and what its value will be.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE WEIGHT

In the beginning of the nation/state, I predict that the most obvious coins will be the initial money. That will be American junk silver and coins from other nations, such as Canadian Maple Leaf silver coins, silver bars, Krugerrand gold coins and gold bars. Those weights are already in the possession of individuals, and will jump-start the new economy. More choices in free market money will emerge quickly.

Private mints will spring up that issue precious metal coins in various weights and various purities. The reason for this is to facilitate transactions of varying size, even down to pennies. In a new nation, 100% copper pennies will still be a good idea, since copper is an accepted money unit now. The spot price for copper is presently higher than the face value of US copper pennies. But remember that those prices are denominated in US dollars, which are going to dissolve in hyperinflation soon.

With the advancement of technology, a bank like The Free Lakota Bank could accept precious metals deposits, and people could use a debit card to transfer weights to other depositors in business transactions. A person could carry a pouch of coins or a debit card or both. The bank could issue paper money redeemable in precious metals, but that would be up to the free market to decide. The new national government WOULD NOT have a national currency.

The only law that seems necessary in the new nation/state’s constitution regarding money would be a criminal penalty for counterfeiting, which is basically an act of fraud and theft. I still like the death penalty for this.

Secession is the only hope for individual liberty and property rights in North America.

DumpDC. Six Letters That Can Change History.

Copyright 2012 Russell D. Longcore. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly given, provided full credit is given.