April 2025
The month of maximum theft
Hello Liberty Lovers of Riverside County!
If you would like an essay featured in the Liberty Letter, or if you read or watched something awesome that you think should be in the Suggested Reading of one of these newsletters, reach out to us at admin@rclp.us and let’s chat!
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From the Chair
Lots of people are running around with their hair on fire about something Trump did. Meanwhile, the California race for the governor’s seat has already begun, and I continue to implore you, dear reader, to pay more attention to local issues than federal, regardless of the supposed awfulness of the federal catastrophe the internet wants you to spend all your energy arguing about.
So here comes Chad Bianco, RivCo’s erstwhile and semi-famous Sheriff, who has thrown his cowboy hat into the race for governor. I’ve gotten some questions, so here’s as good a take as can presently be had.
From a libertarian perspective, Chad Bianco, like any politician, is a mixed bag. He's good on guns and medical freedom, and has taken the radical-sounding but rather easy position that California should eliminate the state income tax. However, he's also a hard-hard-hardcore drug warrior and probably isn’t going to complain much (or at all) about deporting people without even cursory due process. Which of those things is most important? Your mileage may vary.
The albatross around Bianco’s neck, though, is going to be the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association; he's a creature of the union. They've funded him every step of the way. The idea that he'd ever do anything counter to the desires of any police union is silly, and that's a problem. As much as people love to hate the teachers’ unions (and they deserve every bit of that hate and more), they're not the only public sector union that's plundering California.
I've got no personal beef with Bianco, and in fairness he's undoubtedly a better choice than anything the Dems are going to put forward (brace yourself for the Becerra/Harris debates that will kill brain cells like birds caught in wind turbines). And if he rallies gun owners, he might even get elected. There are a LOT of gun owners in the state, believe it or not.
But to do that Bianco is going to have to both seek union money while simultaneously pretending he's got no union ties. Worse, he might try and somehow convince everybody that police unions are "the good kind.” That should be pretty insulting to libertarians (and old-school tea-party folks) for whom contempt for public-sector unions is an article of faith. It’s NOT “okay when we do it,” no matter who “we” is.
–Loren Dean
In the News: Money on Our Minds
Money is on people’s minds right now for a variety of reasons (taxes, tariffs, inflation, etc.). It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the nature of money. This month the RCLP’s treasurer, Joshua Clark, offers an essay about just that:
What is Money?
We use money every day, in numerous situations. But most people never consider the question, “What is money?” Well, we as libertarians probably have asked this more than any other group. And we had great thinkers like Menger, Mises, Rothbard, and Hayek, who wrote multiple tomes on the topic.
We may be familiar with the common theories of money: money as credit/debt, money as the most salable good/the commodity theory of money, and the state theory of money.
Ultimately, though, money is a technology used to transfer value across time and space.
Money as Credit/Debt
In his book, “Debt,” David Graeber argues that there is not anthropologic evidence that humans ever really used barter. He makes this argument to try and discredit the field of economics because most economics textbooks start with barter, and discuss the coincidence of wants - leading to the invention of money.
He gives an example of a small village of hunter gatherers. There was both a level of skill, and luck when it came to hunting. Not every hunter got game during every hunt. So they shared with one another. They didn’t barter or trade.
That’s probably true. But money isn’t there to solve trade problems between high trust, small groups. If Karl and I both lived in one of these small villages, and we go hunting, sometimes I’ll get something, sometimes he will. We can share. But if I get something every time, and Karl doesn’t, maybe he needs to improve his hunting skills, and maybe the village can help Karl out.
But suppose Karl refuses to leave his tent, lamenting on how oppressive nature is, and never goes hunting. Well, we can all stop letting Karl exploit us - and tell him to start hunting, or starve.
Money came about because of low trust situations. Like trading with a random stranger that you may never see again.
Money as the most salable good/commodity
This theory was put forth originally by Carl Menger. It suggests that money emerges organically when a particular good becomes widely accepted in trade due to its superior salability - its ability to be exchanged for other goods. A good’s salability depends on factors like portability, durability, divisibility, and broad demand. For instance, gold became money not by decree but because it was more salable than, say, cattle or grain - it’s easier to carry, doesn’t spoil, and can be split into smaller units. Over time, the most salable good outcompetes others, becoming a common medium of exchange.
The State Theory of Money / Modern Monetary Theory
The state theory of money is one we as libertarians reject outright. It argues that money derives its value and legitimacy primarily from the authority of the state, not from its intrinsic worth of market emergence. It holds that money is whatever the state declares as legal tender: coins, paper, or digital entries. And the fact that it forces citizens to pay taxes in legal tender gives money its demand, and therefore its value.
Money as a Ledger
“Broken Money,” by Lyn Alden, discusses money as a ledger, combining the theories above better than anything I’ve heard before. It also discusses the limitations of the kinds of money we’ve used, and gives a historical framework for why money needed to change with technology.
The idea of money as a ledger is profound. Just think about the obvious human tendency to focus on debt: I provided value to you, so you owe me something in return. This is a basic ledger, even if a small one in our own mind. Now expand that out. Debt, even as we have it today in our debt based monetary system, is a series of ledgers.
The critical question becomes, “Who controls the ledger?” In our fiat economy, the ledger is controlled by the central bank, as well as all of the commercial banks in the system. The fed can add new money, diluting the savings of everyone holding dollars. And a commercial bank, when initiating a mortgage, does not have a full reserve of the money it lends out - it creates it out of thin air. Also diluting the savings of everyone else, and increasing the price on assets that can be purchased with debt.
What about commodity money? How is that a ledger? Well, the best money we had was gold. Humans tried shells, glass beads, and many other things. But as technology advanced, it became too easy to create money.
As an example, beads were used by many Native American tribes. It took time for them to be handcrafted/carved. However, when the Europeans came over and found this was their money, they were able to use advanced manufacturing processes to create new beads at little to no cost, and flood the market with them. In other words, they were able to take control of the ledger.
Gold cannot be created. It is scarce, and finite in supply. It has to be mined, which takes real world resources and work. So nature, or God (whatever you believe), controls the ledger of gold.
The limitation of Gold is that it is difficult to transport. There are risks of theft, and you can’t send it long distances quickly. This is why paper money, issued as credit to gold held in a bank, originated. Of course, the temptation to issue more certificates than gold held in reserves, was rarely resisted. Because paper money was a credit instrument, you had to trust a 3rd party not to inflate the money supply. This is a problem when anyone controls the ledger.
What if we could go back to a system where no one controlled the ledger?
I think Bitcoin solves this fundamental problem: In the digital age, how can we have final settlement between two parties, without the necessity of a 3rd party to validate the transaction/control the ledger.
Other properties of good money
We mentioned some properties of good money above.
Durability - It doesn’t break down, rot, or otherwise decay.
Portable - It can easily be transported.
Fungible - Each unit is the same as other units. For example, 1 US dollar has the same purchasing power as any other US Dollar. And 1 Bitcoin has the same purchasing power as any other Bitcoin.
Verifiable - It is easy to tell if the unit is legit or not. This was another issue with Gold. One had to trust the stamp on the gold as to its purity, etc.
Divisible - It is easy to divide into smaller units for smaller purchases.
Scarce - There is a limited supply.
Censorship Resistant - No one can interfere or stop the transaction because they don’t like the person, or don’t approve of what they’re spending the money on.
Conclusion
Money is a Ledger. Gold was the best form of money humanity had, until the invention of Bitcoin - which itself is only a secure, decentralized ledger, which no one can control.
Bitcoin is durable - the network is the largest computer network on earth.
Bitcoin is portable - you can instantly send billions of fiat value, anywhere in the world.
Bitcoin is fungible - 1 Bitcoin = 1 Bitcoin
Bitcoin is verifiable - You can run your own node and verify the ledger yourself
Bitcoin is divisible - Each Bitcoin can be divided into 1/100,000,000 smaller units
Bitcoin is scarce - 1 Bitcoin = 1/21 millionth of the total supply
Bitcoin is Censorship Resistant - No one controls the ledger
More Suggested “Reading” This Month
(It’s not always reading; it’s the internet, you know how it is)
If someone said “Lysander Spooner’s case against judicial supremacy,” would you want to read it? We thought so: https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2025/03/24/lysander-spooners-case-against-judicial-supremacy/
There’s a lot of libertarian head-shaking about tariffs lately. While they may ultimately be a bad idea, it’s worth taking a few minutes to understand why they’re happening and what theoretical goal is really in play here:
If you need more proof that you should be watching your local government boards like a hawk, make a habit of scrolling You Are The Power’s X feed: https://x.com/YATPOfficial
https://news.lp.org/ is the website for the Libertarian Party news portal. Check it out, subscribe there for updates, and check out how to contribute yourself!
Calendar Notes
As always, bookmark and regularly check our website for the most up-to-date event details: https://rclp.us
11-14 June 2025: FreedomFest
The premier meeting of the liberty movement, this year happening in Palm Springs, right in the heart of Riverside County. The RCLP will be seeking exhibit space to welcome freedom lovers from all over the country (and world) to the Inland Empire. We’ll have more details in next month’s Liberty Letter. If you’ve ever thought about going, this year is the year! Find registration info at https://freedomfest.com/
12 July 2025: Q3 Central Committee meeting
Save the date! Details TBD.
26-27 July 2025: LPCA Convention
A new venue has been found. Thanks go to LP donor Chris Rufer for offering the use of his hotel’s convention space (Hotel Mission de Oro in Santa Nella). Individual action in action! Get the date on your calendar. Links to registration and details will be coming. We’ll post details to RCLP membership as soon as they’re known.
Voter Registration and Party Membership
If you vote, be sure your registration is Libertarian. Whether you vote or not, stay abreast of your registration details on the California Secretary of State page at this link: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/cavoter
Being a registered Libertarian voter certainly allows you to call yourself a real libertarian. However, there is more you can do. You can join the national Libertarian Party as a “sustaining member" by signing the membership application statement and paying dues to the national organization. Note that while paying dues at the state level (California) makes you a local "central committee member," national membership is separate.
If you aren't a dues-paying member at all, you can join as a national member AND as a state/county member using a single online form:
Combined National/State/County Membership Form
Join us in taking a stand for a world set free!
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