Preston Mathews proposal of monetary policy in The Flight of the Barbarous Relic
By now, you’ll know that The Flight of the Barbarous Relic by George Ford Smith is a book that I labeled a ‘must read’ for all libertarians and how it can serve as a blueprint for libertarian fiction. Libertarian fiction should, as in George Ford Smith’s book, contain two ingredients:
A fun plot that readers in your primary genre (fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, etc.) to catch and hold their interest, and…
A lesson from the libertarian point of view, specifically, the Austrian point of view.
The latter is something that George Ford Smith hit a home run with, but I know not all readers are interested in checking out a political thriller. Personally, I’m up for anything that has a fun plot that criticizes the overarching arm of the state, but since that doesn’t hold true for everyone, like those who prefer a certain genre, I wanted to summarize a part of the book’s most important chapter because it contains an essential trade-off in returning to the gold standard.
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Now, I’m not quoting the entire 27-page chapter, or else this article could comprise thousands of words. Instead, I’m using quick bullet points in the section below, broken by short paragraphs featuring my own thoughts on how returning to the gold standard would shrink the federal government dramatically.
Preston Mathews’ three steps to reinstituting the gold standardSo, in the work, Preston Mathews lays out a simple blueprint that would take the US off the destructive path it’s currently on, thanks to the fiat dollar. This is outlined in three steps that would, should any administration have the courage to try it, look rather simple.
Repeal all legal tender laws to keep the government from constantly increasing the money supply.
Deactivate and ultimately abolish the Fed.
Reintroduce the gold standard and convert existing federal reserve notes and bank deposits into gold.
Easy objectives, right? In the short term, the legacy media and its allies would grill this proposal should it occur since Mathews admitted it would cause hardships in the short term. But, in the long-term, this would be the preferred system, mainly because it would restrain government from upholding its warfare-welfare state that it loves so much with the current fiat dollar.
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It would ultimately shrink the size of the federal government, leading to the downfall of many of the alphabet agencies that run our lives whether we know it or not, and, ultimately, fare much better in the way of keeping prices for goods and services in check.
