Liberty Dollar Says NO to the US Mint Allegations
The United States Mint inadvertently may have done THE LIBERTY DOLLAR, an acclaimed private, non-government currency and favorite numismatic item distributed by NORFED, Inc., a favor by posting a “Warning” on its website on September 14 entitled, “Liberty Dollars Not Legal Tender, United States Mint Warns Consumers.” NORFED states that the last thing they want is for someone to be confused that the gold and silver based Liberty Dollar has some connection with the Federal Government’s fiat money, which is based upon nothing more than popular acceptance for lack of an alternative.
Since the introduction in 1998 of the Liberty Dollar every effort has been made to promote and market the Liberty Dollar with educational tools by clearly and repeatedly pointing out that the Liberty Dollar is not United States Mint fiat money, is not legal tender, is not a coin, is not currency in the sense of governmental coinage, and is not money in the sense of governmental coinage. (Currency and money have varied dictionary definitions. In its own interest the Liberty Dollar has every incentive to clarify that the Liberty Dollar has no connection with the Feds - and that’s what has been done, and continues to be done, over and over.)
Any claim of the forgoing would be contrary to the purpose and function of the Liberty Dollar, which, in addition to its being a numismatic item is a means of voluntary barter.
The US Mint Warning has apparently been responsible for a gigantic increase in media and citizen attention to, clarification of, and evidently purchase of a lot more Liberty Dollars. Mike Johnson, Executive Director for the Liberty Dollar notes that, “There never has been such a volume of response – and incredibly favorable response - to the Liberty Dollar.”
However, the US Mint Warning makes a big and wholly unjustified mistake. At the end of the opening paragraph it says: “Prosecutors within the Department of Justice have determined that the use of these gold and silver NORFED ‘Liberty Dollar’ medallions as circulating money is a Federal crime.”
After some introductory misstatements, erroneously relying upon 18 USC § 486, the last sentence claims that “ . . . prosecutors with [sic] the United States Department of Justice have concluded that the use of NORFED’s ‘Liberty Dollar’ medallions violates 18 USC § 486, and is a crime.”
Leaving aside the fact that the United States Mint has no criminal jurisdiction and no authority to interpret, much less enforce, the Criminal Code, the fact is that nobody in the Federal Government has ever contacted the Liberty Dollar or anybody responsibly connected with it, to investigate, much less to claim, that there is something unlawful about the Liberty Dollar.
Just the opposite. Over and again people have enquired of responsible personnel in the United States Secret Service, in the Department of the Treasury Bureau of Engraving and Printing, in the United States Federal Reserve and so on. Just a few of the responses: An Engraving and Printing spokeswoman said, “There’s nothing illegal about this. As long as it doesn’t say legal tender there’s nothing wrong with it.” A Washington, D. C. Federal Reserve System spokesman said, “There is no law that says goods and services must be paid for with Federal Reserve notes. Parties entering into a transaction can establish any medium of exchange that is agreed upon.” A Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis official said, “If these [NORFED] people want to issue their own money, so be it.”
The Liberty Dollar exists, and does so very well, with an estimated $20 million worth of gold and silver Liberty Dollars and Silver Certificates in voluntary circulation as barter, and growing, because the Liberty Dollar is not legal tender, is not connected with any governmental agency and, unlike United States coins and Federal Reserve notes, it is not fiat - or, what some might say, “funny” money.
LIBERTY DOLLAR DISCLAIMER
The Liberty Dollar and other precious-metal mintings distributed by NORFED, Inc., dba the Liberty Dollar, never have claimed to be, do not claim to be, are not, and do not purport to be, legal tender, or a coin.
The noun currency has many dictionary definitions - for example, without limitation, “that which is current as a medium of exchange[,]” “circulation as a medium of exchange[,]” “a common article for bartering[.]” In the sense that currency may be used to refer to the coinage of a government the Liberty Dollar never has claimed to be, does not claim to be, is not, and does not purport to be, currency.
The noun money also has many dictionary definitions - for example, again without limitation, “something generally accepted as a medium of exchange[,]” “a measure of value[,]” “a means of payment[.]” In the sense that money may be used to refer to the coinage of a government the Liberty Dollar never has claimed to be, does not claim to be, is not, and does not purport to be, money.
The phrase legal tender is more specifically defined and does not meaningfully vary from the authoritative BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY definition, “The money (bills and coins) approved in a country for the payment of debts, the purchase of goods, and other exchanges of value.” In other words, legal tender is what a government authoritatively designates as the medium which a creditor must accept from a debtor if it is offered. The Liberty Dollar never has claimed to be, does not claim to be, is not, and does not purport to be, legal tender. The Liberty Dollar repeatedly has emphasized that it is not legal tender. Legal tender and barter are mutually exclusive. The Liberty Dollar is a numismatic piece or medallion which may be used voluntarily as barter.
The noun coin invariably is defined as “a round piece of metal issued by governmental authority as money” or an equivalent phrase. The Liberty Dollar never has claimed to be, does not claim to be, is not, and does not purport to be, a coin. Any claim of the forgoing would be contrary to the purpose and function of the Liberty Dollar, which, in addition to its being a numismatic item, is a means of voluntary barter.
The Liberty Dollar would be glad to refer any inquiries to counsel in Washington, D.C.
Members of the legal community have also looked askance at the US Mint's misapplication of the laws it cites.
The most immediately obvious error of the Mint's claims is that the Treasury Department is an arm of the Executive Branch; it is charged with enforcing law, not making law or interpreting law. It is not the role of the Treasury to "declare something illegal"; that is, on its face, a sign that the separation of powers is decaying. Treasury claims to have discussed the issue with prosecutors at the Justice Department - also an arm of the Executive Branch. Yet we see no statement from DoJ t that effect, no investigations, no signs of any prosecutions or grand juries. Ergo, no crime has been committed. Executive and Executive have gotten together and decided to ban private money, disregarding long-established positions of the courts and the legislature.
Another offensive aspect is the "legislation by press release". Imagine for a minute that you read in the newspaper that your business has been outlawed by the town police - reversing prior on-the-record quotes that your business was perfectly legal. The proclamation targets your company specifically; your competitors are still free to do business.
(Make no mistake, the US Mint is a business, first and foremost. The Mint delivers $775 million in revenues to the Treasury each year from its scandalously overpriced offerings. The Mint sees the Liberty Dollar as a threat to its revenue stream from the collectibles market.)
Further, the proclamation itself does not identify the police official who has declared you an outlaw. No one called you, no one talked to you, and you were never given any chance to address whatever the issue is. Your business, while legal yesterday, is apparently illegal today without any judicial ruling or legislation. This is simply not a situation compatible with the Rule of Law.
The Mint press release is carefully worded to connect separate concepts as if they were related. It implies that making private money is illegal because the United States Federal Government has an "exclusive" power to coin money, citing Article I, section 8, clause 5 of the Constitution. But the word "exclusive" does not appear in the Constitution as quoted. The Constitution is, by its very nature, a set of enumerated powers and restrictions on governments, not on people. The *states* are restricted from coining money. The *people* are not, and in fact numismatists are aware that the United States has a rich and well-documented history of private mints producing private circulating currency which, while not "legal tender", was "lawful money". Americans create new forms of private money all the time, from casino tokens to debit cards to PayPal to GoldMoney. The Treasury Department appears to have suddenly targeted certain private money, and we suspect it expand its scope soon enough.
Potentially most disturbing of all, 18 USC 486 was actually passed to keep people from passing counterfeit replica coinage that was not backed by actual bullion. It is now being used to do the exact opposite - to ban using money that has real value.
Bill Murphy posts over at La Metropole Cafe that he performed an extensive analysis of 18 USC 486's legislative and legal history. The historical record showed it was firmly intended for use as a counterfeiting law, not to ban private currency. The courts have ruled on this specific issue and found that 18 USC 486 does not reach private currencies. The reasons are straightforward: to counterfeit something is to make a passable copy of it for purposes of deception. The standard for counterfeiting has always been that an ordinary person in ordinary commerce would likely confuse the item with a specific other item. If you color photocopy a $20 bill, you are counterfeiting. If you substitute Mickey Mouse for the President, color it orange, and call it a Disney Dollar, you are not counterfeiting. Disney has not committed a crime by making their own money, even though its overall look may be similar to that of the FRN and it may use similar symbols. No ordinary person would confuse a Disney Dollar with a Federal Reserve Note. For the same reason, you cannot counterfeit a $3 bill. It is well known that there is no such bill. You could make one, and you might even convince someone that it was a FRN, and that would be fraud, but the bill itself could not be counterfeit.
18 USC 486 was a Reconstruction-era law intended to police counterfeiting. At the end of the Civil War, the United States re-backed its currency with bullion. During the war, private businesses had issued "store tokens" to deal with the dearth of specie. Some were legitimate, but others looked very like cents and were easily confused. But a collection of cents was redeemable in bullion; a collection of tokens was not. Congress acted to insure individuals could not issue private coinage that would deceive an ordinary observer into thinking it was U.S. coin, but was not actually redeemable in bullion. That law was later re-codified as 18 USC 486.
One hundred and twenty years later, the Treasury Department has acted to stand 18 USC 486 on its head, using it to ban the use of coinage that *is* bullion and does not closely resemble circulating coin, in place of coinage that has no real value. Black has become white; white has become black - or so Treasury would have us believe.
So it seems quite clear: The US Mint has screwed up. They are misapplying law intended to prosecute those counterfieting the Federal Reserves fiat scrip scrap and the Mint's debased debauchery. They aren't going to get away with it, and the public sees through this Wizard of Oz routine, as demonstrated by the vast increase in interest in Liberty Dollars.
UPDATE: Liberty Dollar Wins Grand Prize For Security Printing
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