Conservatives promised to bring sound monetary policy to Washington by 2025, but the fight for your financial freedom is closer to home than you might think. States have been the pioneers of this effort, and should capitalize on this national momentum to defend Americans’ financial freedoms locally.
This month, the Republican National Committee issued a draft proposal for changes to the party’s manifesto, confirming the party’s position against a central bank digital currency – also known as a CBDC or digital dollar – and recognizing the right to mineown and conduct private transactions with digital assets such as Bitcoin.
Sound monetary policy has become an increasingly important focus in the 2024 elections as Republicans candidates such as former President Trump and Vivek Ramaswami public supported digital assets — specifically Bitcoin — while condemning the implementation of a CBDC. Even independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Hold tight a similar position on these issues.
As fresh as these issues may seem on a national level, states have been debating sound money for some time. Idaho’s Republican Party was the First to add pro-digital assets, anti-CBDC language to a key state party platform. The Gem State also considered two bills during the 2024 legislative session that would have met that pillar of the platform, but ultimately failed by a narrow vote in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
While Idaho still faces obstacles, other states have successfully implemented sound monetary policies in recent years. Florida has passed legislation to to prohibit CBDCs. North Carolina and Arizona considered similar legislation that ultimately failed. Meanwhile, Wyoming, Montana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have passed legislation to defend fundamental rights to digital assets.
These measures come as states seek to counter threats to Americans’ liberties from private banks and the federal bureaucracy.
Financial institutions are the new arena of the left’s cultural warfare. Many banks are ending their business with certain religious organizationsfirearms manufacturersor non-green industries. This can be crippling in a modern, largely digital economy and threatens agriculture, mining and energy — some of the leading industries in Idaho’s economy.
Privacy is also a top concern for many Americans. The federal government uses its power over the banking system as a weapon to search query transaction histories of citizens without a warrant, despite this being a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Worse yet, bureaucracies in Washington, DC — unhappy with their current level of excessive control — want to monitor and control the financial transactions of every American through a CBDC. This new, digital dollar would have unprecedented check through programmable dispensing, usage and loading.
It is worrisome that bureaucrats want even more control over a financial system they have already proven they cannot manage well. The hidden tax of inflation is destroying the savings of all Americans who use the dollar as a store of value. Yet the government continues to borrow and print to maintain its ever-expanding size.
States that have proposed and passed legislation to protect the financial freedoms of their constituents recognize these problems and act accordingly. They offer the market a way to escape a financial system that is no longer private, stable, and free.
Even if sound monetary policy were implemented at the federal level, it would not eliminate the need for states to take action. States that do not yet have this protection should continue to promote these policies locally.
States should capitalize on the national momentum for sound monetary policy and work to defend their constituents’ financial sovereignty. Idaho is a leading candidate for this policy, with both of the Gem State’s eastern neighbors already having implemented a number of these policies.
Idaho should keep up with its competitors by pursuing its own sound monetary policy agenda. This starts with acknowledging that a CBDC is not money and prohibiting state cooperation with the Federal Reserve’s implementation of the system. It must also defend the right to mine, own, and trade digital assets. This will allow Idahoans to defend their financial freedoms by opting out of a system poised to monitor and regulate their finances.
Of course, Idaho isn’t the only state that could benefit from this policy. Now is the time for state legislators to seize this national momentum and consider how they can protect their constituents’ finances. Otherwise, they may find that the nation has left them behind in an area where states are leading the way.
This is a guest post by Niklas Kleinworth. The opinions expressed are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.