WendyMcElroy.com

One of the most promising ideas to come out of libertarianism for a long time is to "Repudiate the Debt!" If enough people -- and it need only be a committed minority -- rally around the idea, then that idea itself is powerful enough to bring the borrowing insanity to an end...if only because lenders will become very, very nervous. As libertarian Jerome Tucille eloquently urges, Say it in print, on the radio, on TV, on blogs and in advertisements. Say it loud and say it proud: If the world is dumb enough to loan more money to the U.S. government, don't expect it to be paid back. The Americans who will be making decisions in the decades to come won't be bound by the folly of the current crop of office-holders. If enough of us say it, the world will listen, and cut off the tap.

A grassroots site of the same name -- Repudiate the Debt -- explains the political underpinnings of such a repudiation:



At this moment, the estimated national debt on the shoulders every single American is $35,000...and it is growing FAST. Not a single living person I know of has signed an IOU that obligates him or her to pay for the obscene borrowing demanded by government, especially by Congress. The unborn generations upon whose shoulders the debt will fall with a soul-crushing weight have neither consented nor have they benefited from the pork and payola. Yet their prosperity is being trashed, their futures sacrificed in a futile attempt to borrow America out of a depression that has been largely caused by too much borrowing. Like an alcoholic who is no longer hides his drinking, politicians are binging on your children's birth right; "just one more drink -- we can stop any time!" And, of course, their bacchanalia is added to your children's tab. Meanwhile, their children will inherit the prestige and estates that are perks of political life. Ahh...it is good to be the rulers of good peasants who toil in submissive silence.

Refuse to be a good peasant. Do not let peasant status be the legacy forced upon your children and grandchildren. They will be free men and women, standing on their own feet, only if you stand up on yours and say the one word upon which freedom rests: NO.

You must say it quickly, however, because the politicians have already grabbed onto the idea. Their form of repudiation is to monetize the debt -- that is, to so severly water down the currency through inflation that lenders will get back cents on the dollar, at least in terms of its buying power. At this point, I do not believe the American currency can be saved from this sleight-of-hand repudiation by politicians. (Prudent people should get out of American dollars, if at all possible.) But even if you cannot prevent the devastation of the dollar's collapse, you can protect your children's heritage. They deserve the freedoms and opportunities into which other generations were born. End their debt slavery.