Virginia Delegate Wants To Bring Back Confederate Money, Or Something

As longtime Eat The Press readers may know, I have lived most of my life in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I schlepped around this state for many years, doing time in its finest universities and bars and auto impound lots before finally settling in Arlington County, a small Northern Virginia community founded by people who like voting and Salvadoran-style chicken. A lot of you might be reading the news these days and wondering to yourselves: "Virginia: are they fixing to secede from the Union?" And the answer is: "Probably, I think?"

Consider, if you will, House Joint Resolution No. 557, which will establish "a joint subcommittee to study whether the Commonwealth should adopt a currency to serve as an alternative to the currency distributed by the Federal Reserve System in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System," probably backed by Jefferson Davis's Secret Gold Stash and minted on tobacco leaves.

The Washington Post's Rosalind S. Helderman has the details:

The Commonwealth of Virginia would begin minting its own gold and silver coins as an alternative currency to the U.S. dollar under a bill that Virginia Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) says he will file in coming days.

Marshall will ask the General Assembly to consider the idea when it convenes for its annual legislative session Jan. 12. It is a companion bill to a proposal he has already filed to establish a study committee to examine alternative currencies to that distributed by the Federal Reserve System "in the event of a major breakdown of the Federal Reserve System."

Marshall said his intention is to inject competition into the national economy and force the federal government to change monetary policy he believes is leading to hyperinflation. According to his bill, "many widely recognized experts predict the inevitable destruction of the Federal Reserve System's currency through hyperinflation in the foreseeable future." His critique mirrors that of the Tea Party movement, some of whose members have called for the end of the Federal Reserve system.

Just to review, Article 1 of Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution states that "The Congress shall have Power ... To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures" and to "provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States." Someone should really read that thing out loud, or something, because it's full of useful information.

Hat tip to Gawker's John Cook, who reminds us that this is the same Bob Marshall that wanted to "bar gays and lesbians from serving in the Virginia National Guard" -- which is also something that Virginia is not technically allowed to do. Helderman points out that "Marshall's bills aren't always embraced by the rest of the legislature, even his fellow Republicans," but if you hear that they've reopened the Tredegar Iron Works to manufacture munitions, now you'll know why.

RELATED:
State Legislator Wants Virginia to Have Its Own Currency [Gawker]
Delegate proposes Va. mint its own money [Virginia Politics @ WaPo]

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Comments

[bobfish]

09:38 PM on 02/01/2011

We have already started our own currency in Philadelphia and since the State of Va is prohibited from issuing its own by law, we'd be pleased to help the State of Va by issuing and managing a companion currency for the state. As a non-profit corporation we can legally do that. Our Philadelphia companion currency is called Equal Dollars - =$. It doesn't bear interest and now is used to exchange over an estimated 400,000 in U.S. $ value.

[joeyfoto]

07:22 AM on 01/12/2011

"The Commonwealth of Virginia would begin minting its own gold and silver coins as an alternative currency to the U.S. dollar under a bill that Virginia Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) says he will file in coming days."

WHAT? I thought these "Conservatives" liked the US Constitution. Even in the Bowdlerized version recently read on the floor of congress, they left in the parts about currency being the sole purview of the Federal Government.

Under: "Other powers of Congress." "Congress may establish uniform laws relating to naturalization and bankruptcy. It may also coin money, regulate the value of American or foreign currency and punish counterfeiters."

Under: "Section 10: Limits on the States"
"Clause 1: Contracts Clause
Main article: Contract Clause
“No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.”
States may not exercise certain powers reserved for the federal government: they may not enter into treaties, alliances or confederations, grant letters of marque or reprisal, coin money or issue bills of credit (such as currency)... Only Congress (see Section 8) has the authority to coin this money that should be used by the States..."

Duh...

Yes, Virginia there is no SantaClause.

[Godfearing]

01:03 PM on 01/10/2011

Might as well! The Greenback is becoming worthless thanks to the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars, Wall Street, the high unemployment, and the millions losing their homes to foreclosure.

[stuckinredstate]

04:37 AM on 01/10/2011

Doesn't Virginia -like every other state in the union- have problems that need to be solved?
Or do they have the luxury to suffer such fools who waste time on ridiculous proposals like confederate money?? Hey, if you're going that route, why not revert to rolling heavy stone wheels for currency, like our prehistoric ancestors did? After all, this guy sounds like a Neanderthal.

[ElBruce]

03:40 AM on 01/10/2011

Hey, if the South wants to have their collective asses handed to them again, they're free to try seceding again. I'm kinda looking forward to it.

[joyf1]

12:30 AM on 01/10/2011

I guess they could always resurrect the Articles of Confederation.

[Out Law Josey Wales]

08:20 PM on 01/09/2011

The Civil War is closer than we think. With the election of Obama, we saw the rhetoric ratchet up by orders of magnitude. The deep currents of intolerance were there but hidden. Now they surface in the strangest of ways. We see it here, in Arizona and in some folks from Alaska.

[creationwaits]

10:31 PM on 01/09/2011

When the head of GOProud was on MSNBC, he said that he found it far easier to be a gay among conservatives, than to be a conservative among gays. I couldn't sum up how I feel about tolerance in this country any better than that. There is intolerance in this country, of many forms, but most of it is directed at conservatives, not coming from them.

[Eric4969]

10:59 AM on 01/10/2011

LOL Wow Really YOU ARE WAY OFF on this one for starters why would Gays not like Conservatives O YEH Conservatives HATE Gays and dont want them to have any RIGHTS LOL How would you feel if 1 PARTY REPUGS keep trying to keep your rights away from you lol And about Conservatives and their HATE Speeches, do I really need me to send you links from Rush, Beck, Hannity, Palin, Newt, Chenney,McCain and on and on with their Rhetoric of Hateful words towards Gays REALLY lol just let me know and I'll send you Hundreds off Links!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Andy Anderson]

06:29 PM on 01/09/2011

If Bob Marshall wants to bring something back, he could start by repatriating the jobs the GOP and their cronies in Big Business exported to foreign countries for their own selfish advantage and to the detriment of their fellow citizens and their country!!! That should keep him busy for about a decade or so!!!

[K August]

03:55 PM on 01/09/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JoyICg4qbQ

This is a must watch for every person in our country. There's a long version that shows how the private bankers of the world control everything. Our Constitution mandates that government should control their money, not private bankers like the Federal Reserve bank!

[K August]

03:28 PM on 01/09/2011

Adding to my posts below.
Abe Lincoln tried to get the governments monetary system out of the control of private bankers of the day.
He issued "greenbacks" ...just as our Constitution mandates....that only the government will issue it's "coinage".

JFK tried again by issuing Silver Certificates. Silver backed dollars, not Federal Reserve bank fiat money, money that's back by nothing and printed out of thin air.

Other presidents have tried also to wrestle control of their monetary system away from private bankers (like the current Federal Reserve Bank) but most of them had an early and untimely demise...
In light of the private bankers strength and power it would take all of us as ONE group to push for this.
They are afraid of "we the people". They do control Congress but not us and what we demand. Read up on our history and you'll see how our forefathers were very in tune to what the bankers were doing. Today they have most of us dumbed down and they want us to think there's no other way but to keep letting them keep us in servitude and to keep our government in debt.
We are NOT the only country they've messed with but we can join the international outrage over what the handful of uber rich bankers of the world have done to us and the world economies.

[joyf1]

12:22 AM on 01/10/2011

What's next? Blame the j e w s?

[bobfish]

09:33 PM on 02/02/2011

you/we can also start a local currency movement for exchange of labor/goods/services. our non-profit corporation has done this and can offer advice to others who want to take action in their communities.

[K August]

03:12 PM on 01/09/2011

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
-- Thomas Jefferson

"Let me issue and control a Nation's money and I care not who makes its laws".
Letter written from London by the Rothschilds to their New York agents introducing their banking method into America: "The few who can understand the system will be either so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class, while, on the other hand, that great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that Capital derives from the system, will bear its burden without complaint and, perhaps, without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.
When you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top,
you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate."
President James Garfield - assaignated in 1881 shortly after making this statement

[K August]

03:11 PM on 01/09/2011

It does on the surface sound pretty nutty but those of you that really KNOW our history probably understand why they are doing this. The currency part is nutty but the idea is a good one and one that we have had in previous years in our history.

Before the Federal Reserve Bank took over in 1913 our government printed and issued it's own money and worked with it at NO DEBT to private bankers.
The Federal Reserve Bank is a PRIVATELY OWNED bank. They were also behind the whole "income tax" scheme and the IRS to be it's collection agent.

Can you imagine what it would be like if OUR tax dollars went into a true government owned and controlled bank and the government could use that money without paying interest and creating debt?
ONE state in our country already does this.
It's the ONLY state owned bank in the country and it has NO debt and unemployment is about 4 %. They've run their own bank since 1919 and if they can do it why can't other states do it and why can't our government return to NOT letting private bankers KEEP US and our Government in perpetual debt.

The rules would have to change...none of that silly fractional reserve stuff could be allowed. A bank would need to have 100% reserves, not the 10% that the Fed does and no more printing of fiat money out of thin air (money backed by NOTHING).

[angelrubes]

03:36 PM on 01/09/2011

It's not a privately owned bank. Not allowed enough characters to explain. Thus.....a link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System

[K August]

04:11 PM on 01/09/2011

It is a private bank. Please watch the short 10 minute video I posted above and you'll see that it is. If that's too much work..... look in your phone book and try to find the Federal Reserve Bank listings in the Government Blue pages section.
It's not there....but you will find it in the white pages over by Federal Express (Fedex) and all the other "privately owned" companies.

[K August]

04:34 PM on 01/09/2011

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/who_owns_the_federal_reserve_bank.html

[dollbaby]

02:39 PM on 01/09/2011

yeah, well in that case I would like to use my Monoply money and Chucky Cheese coins.

[brokerthanu]

01:56 PM on 01/09/2011

So this is what that Loughner-Loon was talking about.

[joyf1]

12:27 AM on 01/10/2011

He wants the gold standard, like Ron Paul. They might want to see what the gold standard would have done to farmers years ago.

[bynddrvn5]

12:17 PM on 01/09/2011

Just one more reason to avoid this state! Our family used to vacation in Virginia, but there are just too many crazy people running around the state and I am always worried they will confiscate my radar detector. The radar detector is legal in every other state, except in this police state where you don't have any rights.