Ron Paul's Triumph: Audit the Fed

Ron Paul doesn't have a chance of winning the Presidency. As much as I was (am) behind him, I think his goal was always to change the focus in Washington. Its hard to say what his long term legacy will be, but I think he has helped stir the constitutional consciousness of the country. He certainly has energized the young libertarian movement, and its up to us to keep the ball rolling.

But, he won a significant victory today. Paul has long pushed for the an audit of the Federal Reserve, and today it looks like we might be one step closer. The U.S. House passed Paul's bill and Harry Reid has even said that he supports the measure. So maybe for once this Congress' bill won't be dead on arrival at the Senate. This would be the most significant victory for liberty this year (probably the most significant since Obama came into office).

Interestingly the vote was the Washington Times reports that the bill passed 327-98. What confuses me is why anyone but the Federal Reserve would oppose an audit. How can an audit be a bad thing? Someone please explain. It seems to me that we should want to know the truth about where money is going rather than to bury our heads in the sand. Of course Fed Chair Ben Bernanke doesn't like it, he said it would be a "nightmare scenario." Why? Obviously an audit is a nightmare for someone who has something to hide, so why then is this a nightmare scenario for him?

Evidently several Democrats voted against the bill on the ground that it would be dangerous send the message to the financial markets that lawmakers want to intervene with financial affairs. Seriously? These are the guys who have been pushing for more and more control and regulation of the financial industry since before 2008, and who want government to interefere with private markets in all industries. Something sounds disingenuous in that protestation.

Let us hope that we pass this bill. It can only be for the best to audit the Fed. After all, when are we ever better of blinding ourselves to reality?

For more on this, check out Cato's podcast on this.
-Liberty Tree