I received an E-mail three days ago requesting that I participate in a movement to suppress the use of the new dollar coin because it does not have the words, "In God We Trust" emblazoned on it's surface. I'm still pondering that request. If track records prove anything at all it is that our government has never minted a dollar coin that has "caught on" with the general public. This one probably won't catch on either. Coin collectors, a group of folks that I enjoy rubbing elbows with from time to time, have informed me that the coin will not initially be worth more than a dollar, but in time, say 50 years it may increase in value. LOL....Like I'm going to be around to see that happen! I suppose if there was a political party that I might have whole heartedly aligned myself with it would have been the Silverites. They stood on a platform of hard coinage and "NO" paper money allowed. They wanted what was in your pocket to be worth something. That would be a good thing today, but not really feasible. I would, however be supportive of coinage that was in the $50 and $20 range just for the ease it would give me in my itinerant life style. Think about it.....You could pay for a tank of gas with something the size of our old silver dollar and get some change back. A couple of those coins and you would be ready for grocery shopping or, in the case of my adorable wife, a stop at Walmart. It wouldn't make a lot of difference what they made the coins from in terms of metallurgical content, but the transport of money from place to place would just be more fun. I'm certain that George Washington probably is not denigrated in any manner shape or form by the issuance of this new dollar without those famous words, but I don't really think he would approve either. Any way you cut it we are never going to be able to make everybody happy all of the time, so I think the rest of us should have fun. Maybe even a One Hundred Dollar coin for doing that dinner out with a couple of friends. That type of coinage might catch on and we'd even see a decline in the number of folks using credit cards. Think about it....remember pitching pennies, and how about those friendly neighborhood poker games where it's table stakes and one has the coins to place on the table. We have casinos issuing their own coinage all over America and there are now collectors that have betting materials dating back well over 150 years. That's only a handful that I know personally, but "coin of the realm" has always been very important to people dating back well before our "modern" times. Anyway, I'm looking forward to picking up a few of these new dollars to put in the box with some of my old ones. I wonder if the old ones will be surprised to see that God has been removed in the pursuit of political correctness? In Christ's Love, Preacher.
