Writing as a Daoist Deist Alchemist (attempting to be a rational American Daoist), I have been dealing with the lines between medicine, religion, politics, and economics.  I know it stumps some why an acupuncturist/herbalist would be writing about Constitutional money issues–for those newcomers, I beg you look into the history of Alchemy from the early Daoists to Isaac Newton.  This post I mean to keep short, just long enough to get you to think about this clearly, for it is of utmost importance to understand if you ever use money in your life or are interested in the many aspects of the history of gold and silver in money and medicine.

My wife and I recently received a check made out to her and me.  Specifically AND me, not OR me.  That means, according to the bank, that we both have to sign it to cash it.  That is sensible, there is a specific meaning to ‘and’ that is different than ‘or.’

So what does it mean when the US Constitution (still) says ‘No state shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.’?

For one, please reflect that the Supreme Court has ruled (Legal Tender Rulings) that both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution mean that the phrase ‘no…Thing but gold and silver coin’ means that unbacked paper money in the form of Federal Reserve Notes are just fine.  In my mind, there is no more obvious corruption that can be pointed out than this glaring ruling.  The Supreme Court literally has said that a piece of paper IS gold coin, which is a bigger stretch than George Orwell’s 1984, where 2+2=5.

We supposedly have a top-down legal structure where the Constitution is the top law.  It is theoretically impossible in the United States for a law or act to be passed which contradicts the Constitution.  If ignorant or corrupt politicians pass an Act which contradicts the Constitution, it doesn’t technically need to be repealed, it is simply ignored as void.  This legal principle is called ‘Void Ab Initio.’

Originally, our money system was called Bimetallism.  In 1873, a controversial change was enacted which demonetized silver, leading us to Gold Monometallism.  This was in the favor of the international bankers and economically destroyed much of Western America (farming and mining communities) by making their debt load higher while handing over gold to the bankers as a result of contracting the money supply and making debts payable in gold only.

Was the demonetization of silver legal?  No.  It only would have been legal with a Constitutional amendment changing the language from ‘silver and gold coin’ to ‘only gold coin’ or perhaps ‘silver or gold coin.’

Accordingly, the Coinage Act of 1873 is Void Ab Initio, and the previous coinage acts are still the actual law.  The Coinage Act of 1834 was legal and as far as I can tell is still in effect–it modified the ratio of the gold coins from 15 oz silver to 1 oz gold to 16 oz silver to 1 oz gold to reflect market conditions after the large silver discoveries in the West such as the Comstock Lode.  The weight of the silver Dollar, the basic Unit of United States money, remained unchanged–the gold coins were redesigned to have less gold in them.  Since the Constitution didn’t specify a ratio or weight of silver and gold coin, Acts can legally be passed that change that ratio, as long as both silver and gold coinage are both legal tender, and nothing else is.

Until the Constitution is amended to legally allow another currency system, the only legal money system allowed in any State involves nothing but silver AND gold coin.

If you believe Federal Reserve Notes are actually legal tender, have the same properties as gold and silver, or are what the Founders who wrote the Constitution intended to circulate as money, you are a victim of brainwashing.  The paper money and debased coinage circulating today are indeed a giant illegal fraud.  Even if the Supreme Court says they are not, I appeal to the Periodic Table and common sense for my truths.  I would probably state I believed differently after a few seconds of waterboarding or even with the credible threat of genital electrocution, but it would take protracted pharmacological brainwashing (and lots of television) for me to actually believe it to be true or to not care about it.

I’m not hardnosed about enforcing the legal penalties for this long-standing fraud.  We should be lenient to the politicians who have debased our coinage, and excuse them from the required death sentence.  A lifetime of hard labor should be sufficient, possibility of parole if there’s good enough behavior.  This is spelled out in the Coinage Act of 1792, which is where the Unit of a Dollar is defined as a silver coin with .77 oz of silver in it.  Here is the relevant portion:

Section 19.  And be it further enacted, That

if any of the gold or silver coins which

shall be struck or coined at the said mint

shall be debased or made worse as to the

proportion of the fine gold or fine silver

therein contained, or shall be of less weight

or value than the same out to be pursuant to

the directions of this act, through the

default or with the connivance of any of the

officers or persons who shall be employed at

the said mint, for the purpose of profit or

gain, or otherwise with a fraudulent intent,

and if any of the said officers or persons

shall embezzle any of the metals which shall

at any time be committed to their charge for

the purpose of being coined, or any of the

coins which shall be struck or coined at the

said mint, every such officer or person who

shall commit any or either of the said

offenses, shall be deemed guilty of felony,

and shall suffer death.

The Coinage Act of 1972 was modified by a couple valid Coinage Acts, but this penalty for debasement never was changed.

Again, since the Constitution requires Silver AND Gold coins to be legal tender, the 1873 demonitization of silver was indeed the Crime of ’73.  FDR’s coinage crime was in 1933, LBJ’s was in 1965, Nixon’s was in 1971.

Just who do we report these crimes to?

–Kevin O’Neil is an acupuncturist/small business owner in Klamath Falls, OR.  Despite his interest in silver and gold he’s still quite poor, so don’t bother trying to rip him off.  To support his cause and the local economy, please consider buying a signed copy of this booklet by mailing $5 (or a pre-1965 silver quarter) to Kevin O’Neil, PO Box 502, Klamath Falls, OR 97601.  Be sure to include your mailing address and the name of the booklet you want.  You are welcome to copy/scan/post/forward this booklet if all info is left intact.