S.C. legislator introduces bill to ban federal currency

Anti-government sentiment has found a new expression in South Carolina, where state Rep. Mike Pitts (R) has introduced a bill to replace federal currency in the state with gold and silver.

If the bill were to become law, South Carolina would no longer accept or use anything other than silver and gold coins as a form of payment for any debt, meaning paper money would be out in the Palmetto State.

Pitts said the intent of the bill is to give South Carolina the ability to “function through gold and silver coinage” and give the state a “base of currency” in the event of a complete implosion of the U.S. economic system.

“I’m not one to cry ‘chicken little,’ but if our federal government keeps spending at the rate we’re spending I don’t see any other outcome than the collapse of the economic system,” Pitts said. 

You can read the text of the legislation here. Of course, in the unlikely event that the bill becomes law, it would probably be ruled unconstitutional, since the federal government has the constitutional mandate to coin legal tender for "all debts public and private."

Pitts says the change to gold and silver would be of use in the case of a complete economic collapse.

“To me, something I can hold tangible in my hand I can put more value in, especially under the current rate of inflation,” he said. “In the case of total economic collapse, a barter tool is going to be worth a whole lot more value than paper with ink on it.”