December 23, 1913, the United States’ monetary system changed in a huge way.  Congress gave its Constitutional power to “coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standards of weights and measures” to the Federal Reserve Bank.  Did you ever learn about this financial powerhouse in school?  Don’t you think you should since all of your money is printed at this institution?  Now states cannot keep their Constitutional duty to “make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts”.  The restrictions of the Constitution had been undone!  Why?  To help keep your money safe and to prevent another panic like in 1896 and 1907.  The panic of 1896 occurred because of credit over-extension and 1907 due to some large bankruptcies and possibly the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.  Let’s take a look at the last 100 years.  We had the roaring twenties followed by the Great Depression.  We got Social Security and Income Taxes.  By the way, your income taxes help to pay for the interest we owe the Federal Reserve.  My money today cannot buy what it used to.  Not long ago, I would ride my bike to the local pharmacy with $0.65.  That was like gold to a 10-year-old child.  I could buy a large bag of candy full of candy bars and boxes of treats.  Today, I might be able to buy one chocolate bar with that amount.  Some people say that the dollar is on life support.  Others believe its value has decreased as much as 98 percent.  In 1971, President Nixon took the United States off the gold standard.  This was another indication that the dollar was losing value.  The Coinage Act of 1792 states in section 19 that if anyone debases gold or silver coins gets the penalty of death.  Hasn’t our money been debased in the past 100 years?  Without a gold standard, the Reserve may print as much money as it wants known as Quantitative Easing.  Don’t you think it is time that we return to honest money?