Who understands the Constitution better, Ron Paul or the Founding Fathers? Ron Paul believes the answer to that question is Ron Paul.
Speaking at the Huckabee Presidential Forum, Rep. Paul reiterated his long-standing position on the Fed:
"Everybody knows my position on the Federal Reserve. It is unconstitutional."
One can legitimately criticize the Federal Reserve for many things -- too secretive, needs to be audited, overly interventionist -- but its constitutionality should be beyond question. The Constitution does indeed authorize a central banking institution such as the Federal Reserve. Who says so? The men who wrote the Constitution, that's who.
Many delegates to the Constitutional Convention were elected to the first session of Congress. In 1791, less than two years after the Constitution was ratified, this very Congress established the Bank of the United States. Like the Federal Reserve, the Bank of the United States functioned as a central bank. In fact, the Bank of the United States was even more powerful than the Fed is today.
Whose idea was it to create the Bank of the United States? Alexander Hamilton, an architect of the Constitution. Who signed Hamilton's bank bill into law? George Washington, who had chaired the Constitutional Convention.
Clearly, the Founding Fathers knew a central bank to be constitutional. Nonetheless, Ron Paul thinks he knows more than Alexander Hamilton and George Washington about the meaning of the Constitution. I disagree.
Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.
Established by the Founding Fathers, the Bank of the United States was a private corporation.
Posted by: Michael Zak | December 23, 2011 at 05:11 PM
The Constitution provides for a Government Central Bank. It does not make provisions for a Private Corporation to be the central bank.
Posted by: J Galt | December 23, 2011 at 03:24 PM