Molon Labe! (71 page)

— Jeffery Snyder, Interview by Carlo Stagnaro, 2/8/2001
www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/stagnaro2.html

Wyoming life

2018

Wyoming bursts with new business activity (beginning with the construction industry for the 40,000+ relocators), which had hugely benefitted from the intrastate digital gold currency. Exchanged via encrypted files on a statewide ethernet, Wyoming was fast creating an insular economy with its own e-currency (called the
Oro
, Spanish for "gold" and a pun on the
Euro
). The
Oro
reduced economic leakage and dependency on the clearly failing FRN "dollar." Being fully backed by gold, the
Oro
was valued at 1/100
^th
of an ounce .999 pure. Spot gold is now $3,400, $34 equals W1.

As in the 1800s, an ounce of gold (a $20 Double Eagle) would buy a nice suit or a good rifle. Today, nothing has really changed. W100 (
i.e.,
the same ounce of gold) still buys a nice suit or a good rifle. The relationship between gold and manufactured goods was historically stable because as gold mining became more efficient, so did manufacturing. The equilibrium has remained constant over 150 years, which is the whole point of honest money. Prices are information, and a stable monetary yardstick is required for accurate price information. Only the fiat currencies devalue. As Milton Friedman once wrote,
"Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink, and make the combination worthless."

Oro
prices are cerebrally manageable and harkened memories of the late-1960s. A glass of house red is W1. A decent firearm, W100. A new pickup, W6,250. A nice 3/2 home goes for about W25,000. These prices seemed "right" to most people, versus the high $ prices due to inflation.

More and more local businesses accepted the
Oro
online (in a system similar to the old PayPal), and at POS smart cards (purchased anonymously, as the prepaid phone cards had been). Wyomingites who still got paid in FRN "dollars" usually converted them to
Oros
as quickly as they could, but given the insular nature of the W it was harder and harder to find other locals willing to sell W for $. (Most newcomers converted their shrinking FRNs to bullion before their move.) Many people predicted that the
Oro
would totally crowd out the $ within five years. Gold/W and W/gold conversions are charged a 0.5% fee, and every county seat has an "
Oro
W Exchange Center." (There are no fees for W/W transactions.) The
OroCorp
gold was secured throughout Wyoming amongst several secret alpine vaults.

Besides smart cards there were also
Oro
bills, beautifully printed on sheets of rhodium Mylar. The durable synthetic material shines like gold in the light. The obverse side has denomination-different holographic scenes of outdoor Wyoming life, while the reverse is the "business" side of the bill with a twenty digit bar code serial number (verifiable on the
OroCorp
website) and many other security features. It was deemed by international currency experts as the most counterfeit-proof bill in existence.

Many Wyoming children know of no other currency, and thought only in
Oros
. Not since the 1920s had youngsters grown up with gold money.

The
Oros
are considered so attractive that out-of-state tourists often smuggle out W1 bills as souvenirs. Since the bills are issued with a redemption life of only two years, these thousands of eventually invalid W1 bills present a profit windfall for
OroCorp
.

Many people originally protested any expiration of the W bills, and it took quite an educational program to explain the difference between money (gold bullion) and currency (W bills). While money was certainly tradeable on a daily basis, currency was more convenient. However, when people began to think of currency as
identical
to money, fewer people routinely redeemed their currency "claim tokens" for gold. This has always successfully tempted the gold warehousers ("banks") into issuing more claim tokens than they could honor all at once. Hence, a regularly expiring currency is essential to help prevent this historical fraud.

Also, when currency is hoarded its velocity decreases, which affects the economy. Taken to an extreme over time (
e.g.
, between 1929-1933 when the M3 shrunk dramatically and gold and silver coin could not make up the gap) this can cause a depression. Currency is meant to be
traded
, widely and often. Wyomingites had first to learn that currency is an information system backed by money (
i.e.,
gold or silver) used to deploy human effort. Currency is a product providing a
service
, and as such should have a finite lifespan.

So, the
Oro
was made to expire after two years. The month and year of each bill's expiration was clearly printed on both sides, and people carefully checked all bills before accepting them. Wallets were often arranged with the oldest bills in front. Some people refused to accept soon-dead bills, but this was considered bad form if they had over two months of remaining life. However, to get stuck with a "Zorro" (zero +
Oro
) was the object of much joshing. Sometimes tourists could be convinced to buy them, but usually the careless holder ate the loss. In order not to become surprised by Zorros, they were generally swapped three months out at the
Oro
Exchange Centers.

All this scrutiny and activity seemed like a waste to outsiders, but Wyomingites understood it was an intentional reminder that currency is never money, but only its temporarily tradeable substitute. In this way, Wyomingites never lost sight of what money was — gold bullion coin.

Some Wyomingites wanted the
Oro
backed also by silver, but a bimetallic monetary standard had caused nothing but grief for America. Instead, 40% and 90% US silver coins, as well as .999 ounce generic rounds, found their own free-market price equilibrium with the W.

Sometimes, if the customer agreed, W change was made in 90% silver dimes as W1 (the price of a cheeseburger) was too large for many transactions. It takes 13.82361 90% dimes to equal an ounce of .999 silver, and the 2018 silver:gold ratio is 22:1. Thus, 304 90% silver dimes equals an ounce of gold, or W100. Or, roughly three silver dimes for an
Oro
.

A consortium was rumored to be considering the creation of the
Plata
, a silver-backed version of the
Oro
. When
OroCorp
's CEO was asked about his opinion, he said,
"Why would I mind? Wyoming's a free country!"

OroCorp
had studied the feasibility of coinage down to an W cent (which would buy a piece of bubble gum), but rejected it as cost ineffective.
Oro
smart cards served

Federal Reserve officials publicly ignore the Wyoming
Oros
(for fear of igniting a blaze of imitation), but privately they fume. They'd tried to pressure the SEC and other regulatory agencies into shutting down the system as illegal banking, but this was thwarted by the participants' encryption as well as the Wyoming government's noncooperation.

The IRS was furious about the massive income tax evasion inherent to the
Oro
economy, but was as unsuccessful in penetrating the
Oro
database as it was impaneling sympathetic juries. The IRS soon gave up in bitter defeat.

Wyoming General Election

November 2018

The last batch of organized Tier 5 libertarian relocators (originally planned to maintain the previous four years of political gains) had turned out to be unnecessary. Libertarians were pouring into Wyoming without needing to be organized. The results from 2014 were the watershed. Most of the hard work had been done, and the state had proven herself the only real lifeboat.

James Preston was easily reelected, along with the libertarian county governments. Even the Democratic base of Sweetwater, Carbon, and Albany was evaporating like snow in June.

2019

When the Cambrian measures were forming,

They promised perpetual peace.

They swore, if we gave up our weapons,

That the wars of the tribes would cease.

But when we disarmed, They enslaved us,

And delivered us bound to our foe,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings,

Said: "Stick to the devil you know."

— Kipling, 1919

The White House

January 2019

President Connor opens a smart leather folder and begins to scan his PDB (Presidential Daily Brief). After he reads the paragraph on Wyoming, he turns to his Chief of Staff and says, "If I had any doubt that those people are nuts, I don't any more. This year they plan on," — Connor returns to his PDB —"banning civil forfeitures, approving medical marijuana and hemp crops, eliminating drug sentences, breaking the Wyoming bar association, and convening independent grand juries to investigate federal officials."

"Yes, sir, and that's just what we know about so far," confirms Sowers. "There's also a rumor of a poll tax, but we haven't confirmed that yet."

President Connor sits there, his head a bobbing cork in a sea of quiet fury. "So, having their own damn schools, money, and airline wasn't enough? They have to push us even further! Well, the patience of this administration is not endless! I'm tired of the least populated state in the Union thumbing its nose at us! Just like Rhode Island back in the 1780s, not sending delegates to the Philadelphia Convention, rejecting the Constitution by popular vote, and then boycotting the Union until 1790."

"But Rhode Island eventually
did
join, Mr. President."

Connor's gaze is unfocused off into the distance. "Yeah, they joined all right . . . after an incredible amount of pressure."

Wyoming General Session

February 2019

President Connor's intel was correct. The legislature approved several bills regarding drug decriminalization, which were signed into law by Gov. Preston. But even more stunning was the following:

RESOLVED, that the House and Senate of the State of Wyoming, seeking to reinstitute the original right of counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America, hereby declares that a criminal or civil defendant in a Wyoming state, county, or municipal proceeding has the right to choose any lay person as counsel for both assistance and representation, and no license of lay persons shall be required for their practice of law.

The Wyoming Bar Association issued a blistering response, claiming that the very system of justice was threatened by swarms of self-styled "counselors" who would not only make a mockery of the courts but would also jeopardize their clients. The Bar claimed that many innocent people would be convicted due to uneducated and inexperienced representation, and thus immediately challenged the bill in supreme court.

The Bar did not, however, address the obvious counterargument: that it was the
defendant
's life and property on the line, and thus up to him to choose his own counsel, bar-certified or not. If certified attorneys were so much better than laymen, then they'd have nothing to worry about in this new free market, would they?

Officials from the NEA taunted the ABA with, "If you attorneys had better protected us teachers, then this wouldn't have happened to
you
!"

By summer most of the national trade schools and colleges offered lawyering associates degrees in Wyoming. Courses included Fourth Amendment Issues, Discovery, Rules of Evidence, Direct and Cross Examination, Closing Arguments, Jury Nullification, and so forth. Thousands of applicants swamped the first semester. Many of them were not planning on a career, but simply wanted to be able to competently represent themselves, or a friend or family member in court if ever necessary.

It was considered within the broad realm of self-defense.

Very quickly, many poor/mediocre bar-certified attorneys were squeezed out of practice by hundreds of brilliant laymen who always wanted to practice law but couldn't afford an expensive accredited law university.

One Rawlins city prosecutor lost his case to a layman. He later moaned, "I graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, have been practicing law for twelve years, only to get beat by some woman from
DeVry
in her very first trial!"

Washington, D.C.            FBIHQ

March 2019

Director Klein wrinkles his forehead in hope. "Maybe he
is
dead. Two times now 'The Leopard' hasn't acted."