Since early 2010, it has been my privilege to work on bringing the gold standard back into the public discourse through the American Principles Project. It was a great pleasure to hear from my old mentor, Lewis Lehrman, and to be asked for my assistance in bringing his writings—inspired by the close study of the work of French economist Jacques Rueff—out of the archives and back as part of the public conversation.
I had first become interested in gold through my chance discovery, during law school in the high inflation Carter years, that gold had a rich and profound constitutional history.
But it was Lehrman's writings and personal tutelage that helped me to understand the technical mechanisms that cause gold to have such a positive effect on economic growth. It was Lehrman who, as a Commissioner on the Gold Commission (who, along with Rep. Ron Paul, provided "The Case For Gold") most clearly demonstrated for me both the moral and the utilitarian case for gold. You may find some of his key writings here.
It is an honor and a pleasure to have a role in bringing Lehrman’s beautiful prose and trenchant analysis back to public light and to invite Lewis to add his new insights to the important new debate now arising about the role of gold in domestic and international monetary systems.
It begins here. TheGoldStandardNow.org is designed for readers, whether plain citizens without special training or high level economists and policy makers, as a guide through what sometimes appears a dizzyingly complex subject. Gold is complex in appearance only. Part of the beauty of the gold standard is its utter simplicity and naturalness, the honest money of democracy. What is the gold standard? Why is it essential for vibrant economic growth — growth for the working family at least as much as for the wealthy? Why is it so controversial? What is its history? What is its future? Does it have potential pitfalls?
And perhaps most important, how does it work? In short, this website is designed to provide you with everything you ever wanted to know about the gold standard but were afraid to ask.