“We’ve all had old-timers (usually a grandfather) lecture us on the virtues of cash, and the evils of credit. But, never content to stand on mere common sense, we typical Americans (among whom I number), credit shoved in our faces, felt emboldened to ignore the wise counsel of our elders.

Imagine spending money you don’t have, on things you don’t need, using a piece of paper that’s essentially – valueless. This is a concept so diabolically surreal, so Dada, it must have originated with a roving sixth-century performance artist or some gnarled monk-like sage. A mere “banker” could never have concocted something so outrageous. It’s simply too…insanely artistic.

So what have we reaped for not listening to grandpa? Widespread financial impoverishment. Chattel slavery, American-style. The destruction of our manufacturing base. A service (that is, a slave) economy. A government whose scope and control would shame a Roman emperor. And always…war. Endless war.

And all those Great American middle-class consumers? What about them?

They have placed a bet that they can play chicken with the Federal Reserve – and win. But the Fed is driving a Mack truck. And they’re driving a Fiat.

But…what if neither side “turns chicken?” What if there’s a head-on collision?

Well, there’s no need to wonder how it all turns-out. The credit streams have, in fact, run dry. And there has just been a massive head-on smash-up. The Fed has fled the scene of the accident, wounded.

And the middle-class consumer? He’s lying on the highway in a coma, perhaps dreaming deeply of a fading image on his wide-screen TV.

At this moment in historical time, it looks as if America could use a really good emergency room physician. Someone who has delivered 4,000 babies instead of 4,000 body bags.

Someone who can deliver prosperity instead of bubbles. Freedom instead of slavery.

Most urgently, someone who can deliver us from the evil of fiat currency, which is at the root of perhaps most of our evils, both social and political.

Someone, come to think of it, like Ron Paul.”

More by James Herndon at Lew Rockwell.