Swampy Politicians in Red States Block Sound Money Reforms

By Clint Siegner, Money Metals Exchange

Money Metals Exchange does more than just talk about sound money. Our public policy initiative, the Sound Money Defense League, is leading the growing ranks of citizens seeking to advance the cause across the country.

Have a look at the latest grassroots victory for sound money in Kentucky: the 45th state sales tax exemption for gold and silver investors.

But sound money isn’t winning in our home state of Idaho, at least not yet.

Of course, sound money is not a highly partisan issue. We have allies on both sides of the aisle – with Wisconsin and New Jersey being recent examples.

However, the challenge in Idaho is not uncommon across some of the “reddest” states. I’ll explain…

Money Metals was founded with a single employee in Eagle, Idaho, back in 2010. We now employ about 100 people.

Our clients like us for a variety of reasons. Among them are our educational and public policy efforts. We also support candidates and groups working to advance the cause of sound money everywhere – and that includes our home state of Idaho.

Idaho – like Wyoming, Montana, and a few other red states – has a problem with big-government politicians that masquerade as something else. The state legislature and the governor’s office are still dominated by these sorts of politicians.

In reality, Governor Brad Little and his liberal allies in the legislature serve the interests of big business lobby (here it is called the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry) as well as government union bosses.

This year’s sound money bill would have allowed the Idaho state treasurer to hold physical bullion as a reserve asset and diversify away from the declining U.S. dollar and bonds backed by the insolvent U.S. government.

A similar bill just became law in our neighboring state of Utah, but Governor Little vetoed it in Idaho.

The sad consequence is that Idaho remains “all-in” on fiat dollars and other failing assets. The veto wasn’t good for Idahoans, but that isn’t how Gov. Little and his ilk make their decisions.

The point of all this is that the effort to “drain the swamp” must extend to your own state capitol. It is hard to imagine winning the battle to reform the federal government or restore honest money nationwide unless more victories accrue at the state level.