— Jeffery Snyder, Interview by Carlo Stagnaro, 2/8/2001 www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/stagnaro2.html
Wyoming life
2018
Wyoming bursts with new business activity (beginning with the construction industry for the 40,000+ relocators), which had hugely benefitted from the intrastate digital gold currency. Exchanged via encrypted files on a statewide ethernet, Wyoming was fast creating an insular economy with its own e-currency (called the Oro, Spanish for "gold" and a pun on the Euro). The Oro reduced economic leakage and dependency on the clearly failing FRN "dollar." Being fully backed by gold, the Oro was valued at 1/100th of an ounce .999 pure. Spot gold is now $3,400, $34 equals W1.
As in the 1800s, an ounce of gold (a $20 Double Eagle) would buy a nice suit or a good rifle. Today, nothing has really changed. W100 (i.e., the same ounce of gold) still buys a nice suit or a good rifle. The relationship between gold and manufactured goods was historically stable because as gold mining became more efficient, so did manufacturing. The equilibrium has remained constant over 150 years, which is the whole point of honest money. Prices are information, and a stable monetary yardstick is required for accurate price information. Only the fiat currencies devalue. As Milton Friedman once wrote, "Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink, and make the combination worthless."
Oro prices are cerebrally manageable and harkened memories of the late-1960s. A glass of house red is W1. A decent firearm, W100. A new pickup, W6,250. A nice 3/2 home goes for about W25,000. These prices seemed "right" to most people, versus the high $ prices due to inflation.
More and more local businesses accepted the Oro online (in a system similar to the old PayPal), and at POS smart cards (purchased anonymously, as the prepaid phone cards had been). Wyomingites who still got paid in FRN "dollars" usually converted them to Oros as quickly as they could, but given the insular nature of the W it was harder and harder to find other locals willing to sell W for $. (Most newcomers converted their shrinking FRNs to bullion before their move.) Many people predicted that the Oro would totally crowd out the $ within five years. Gold/W and W/gold conversions are charged a 0.5% fee, and every county seat has an "Oro W Exchange Center." (There are no fees for W/W transactions.) The OroCorp gold was secured throughout Wyoming amongst several secret alpine vaults.
Besides smart cards there were also Oro bills, beautifully printed on sheets of rhodium Mylar. The durable synthetic material shines like gold in the light. The obverse side has denomination-different holographic scenes of outdoor Wyoming life, while the reverse is the "business" side of the bill with a twenty digit bar code serial number (verifiable on the OroCorp website) and many other security features. It was deemed by international currency experts as the most counterfeit-proof bill in existence.
Many Wyoming children know of no other currency, and thought only in Oros. Not since the 1920s had youngsters grown up with gold money.
The Oros are considered so attractive that out-of-state tourists often smuggle out W1 bills as souvenirs. Since the bills are issued with a redemption life of only two years, these thousands of eventually invalid W1 bills present a profit windfall for OroCorp.
Many people originally protested any expiration of the W bills, and it took quite an educational program to explain the difference between money (gold bullion) and currency (W bills). While money was certainly tradeable on a daily basis, currency was more convenient. However, when people began to think of currency as identical to money, fewer people routinely redeemed their currency "claim tokens" for gold. This has always successfully tempted the gold warehousers ("banks") into issuing more claim tokens than they could honor all at once. Hence, a regularly expiring currency is essential to help prevent this historical fraud.
Also, when currency is hoarded its velocity decreases, which affects the economy. Taken to an extreme over time (e.g., between 1929-1933 when the M3 shrunk dramatically and gold and silver coin could not make up the gap) this can cause a depression. Currency is meant to be traded, widely and often. Wyomingites had first to learn that currency is an information system backed by money (i.e., gold or silver) used to deploy human effort. Currency is a product providing a service, and as such should have a finite lifespan.
So, the Oro was made to expire after two years. The month and year of each bill's expiration was clearly printed on both sides, and people carefully checked all bills before accepting them. Wallets were often arranged with the oldest bills in front. Some people refused to accept soon-dead bills, but this was considered bad form if they had over two months of remaining life. However, to get stuck with a "Zorro" (zero + Oro) was the object of much joshing. Sometimes tourists could be convinced to buy them, but usually the careless holder ate the loss. In order not to become surprised by Zorros, they were generally swapped three months out at the Oro Exchange Centers.
All this scrutiny and activity seemed like a waste to outsiders, but Wyomingites understood it was an intentional reminder that currency is never money, but only its temporarily tradeable substitute. In this way, Wyomingites never lost sight of what money was — gold bullion coin.
Some Wyomingites wanted the Oro backed also by silver, but a bimetallic monetary standard had caused nothing but grief for America. Instead, 40% and 90% US silver coins, as well as .999 ounce generic rounds, found their own free-market price equilibrium with the W.
Sometimes, if the customer agreed, W change was made in 90% silver dimes as W1 (the price of a cheeseburger) was too large for many transactions. It takes 13.82361 90% dimes to equal an ounce of .999 silver, and the 2018 silver:gold ratio is 22:1. Thus, 304 90% silver dimes equals an ounce of gold, or W100. Or, roughly three silver dimes for an Oro.
A consortium was rumored to be considering the creation of the Plata, a silver-backed version of the Oro. When OroCorp's CEO was asked about his opinion, he said, "Why would I mind? Wyoming's a free country!"
OroCorp had studied the feasibility of coinage down to an W cent (which would buy a piece of bubble gum), but rejected it as cost ineffective. Oro smart cards served
Federal Reserve officials publicly ignore the Wyoming Oros (for fear of igniting a blaze of imitation), but privately they fume. They'd tried to pressure the SEC and other regulatory agencies into shutting down the system as illegal banking, but this was thwarted by the participants' encryption as well as the Wyoming government's noncooperation.
The IRS was furious about the massive income tax evasion inherent to the Oro economy, but was as unsuccessful in penetrating the Oro database as it was impaneling sympathetic juries. The IRS soon gave up in bitter defeat.
Wyoming General Election
November 2018
The last batch of organized Tier 5 libertarian relocators (originally planned to maintain the previous four years of political gains) had turned out to be unnecessary. Libertarians were pouring into Wyoming without needing to be organized. The results from 2014 were the watershed. Most of the hard work had been done, and the state had proven herself the only real lifeboat.
James Preston was easily reelected, along with the libertarian county governments. Even the Democratic base of Sweetwater, Carbon, and Albany was evaporating like snow in June.
2019
When the Cambrian measures were forming,
They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave up our weapons,
That the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed, They enslaved us,
And delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings,
Said: "Stick to the devil you know."
— Kipling, 1919
The White House
January 2019
President Connor opens a smart leather folder and begins to scan his PDB (Presidential Daily Brief). After he reads the paragraph on Wyoming, he turns to his Chief of Staff and says, "If I had any doubt that those people are nuts, I don't any
more. This year they plan on," — Connor returns to his PDB —"banning civil forfeitures, approving medical marijuana and hemp crops, eliminating drug sentences, breaking the Wyoming bar association, and convening independent grand juries to investigate federal officials."
"Yes, sir, and that's just what we know about so far," confirms Sowers. "There's also a rumor of a poll tax, but we haven't confirmed that yet."
President Connor sits there, his head a bobbing cork in a sea of quiet fury. "So, having their own damn schools, money, and airline wasn't enough? They have to push us even further! Well, the patience of this administration is not endless! I'm tired of the least populated state in the Union thumbing its nose at us! Just like Rhode Island back in the 1780s, not sending delegates to the Philadelphia Convention, rejecting the Constitution by popular vote, and then boycotting the Union until 1790."
"But Rhode Island eventually did join, Mr. President."
Connor's gaze is unfocused off into the distance. "Yeah, they joined all right . . . after an incredible amount of pressure."
Wyoming General Session
February 2019
President Connor's intel was correct. The legislature approved several bills regarding drug decriminalization, which were signed into law by Gov. Preston. But even more stunning was the following:
RESOLVED, that the House and Senate of the State of Wyoming, seeking to reinstitute the original right of counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America, hereby declares that a criminal or civil defendant in a Wyoming state, county, or municipal proceeding has the right to choose any lay person as counsel for both assistance and representation, and no license of lay persons shall be required for their practice of law.
The Wyoming Bar Association issued a blistering response, claiming that the very system of justice was threatened by swarms of self-styled "counselors" who would not only make a mockery of the courts but would also jeopardize their clients. The Bar claimed that many innocent people would be convicted due to uneducated and inexperienced representation, and thus immediately challenged the bill in supreme court.
The Bar did not, however, address the obvious counterargument: that it was the defendant's life and property on the line, and thus up to him to choose his own counsel, bar-certified or not. If certified attorneys were so much better than laymen, then they'd have nothing to worry about in this new free market, would they?
Officials from the NEA taunted the ABA with, "If you attorneys had better protected us teachers, then this wouldn't have happened to you!"
By summer most of the national trade schools and colleges offered lawyering associates degrees in Wyoming. Courses included Fourth Amendment Issues, Discovery, Rules of Evidence, Direct and Cross Examination, Closing Arguments, Jury Nullification, and so forth. Thousands of applicants swamped the first semester. Many of them were not planning on a career, but simply wanted to be able to competently represent themselves, or a friend or family member in court if ever necessary.
It was considered within the broad realm of self-defense.
Very quickly, many poor/mediocre bar-certified attorneys were squeezed out of practice by hundreds of brilliant laymen who always wanted to practice law but couldn't afford an expensive accredited law university.
One Rawlins city prosecutor lost his case to a layman. He later moaned, "I graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, have been practicing law for twelve years, only to get beat by some woman from DeVry in her very first trial!"
Washington, D.C. FBIHQ
March 2019
Director Klein wrinkles his forehead in hope. "Maybe he is dead. Two times now 'The Leopard' hasn't acted."
"You may be right, sir. No news is certainly good news."
Washington, D.C.
May 2019
Congress passes the Safe Streets and Neighborhoods Act which requires all "assault weapons" (which had supposedly been NFA registered under the Dangerous Weapons Act of 2007) to be turned in for a $500 compensation. Owners have 90 days to comply, or face a mandatory 10-year prison term with all of their firearms confiscated.
The Government immediately authorizes a study to help recognize in advance Americans likely to resist the SSNA. The study analyzes the psychological profiles of those who helped the Jews during the Holocaust. It finds that they shared three characteristics:
1) Had a spirit of adventure
2) Intensely identified with a parent of high moral standard
3) Did not identify closely with social groups (non-team player)
All FBI field agents are given an abridged copy of the study to better target possibly dissident gun owners.
There is much mewling about the harsh terms of the SSNA, but since far too many gun owners had foolishly registered their battle carbines and rifles (or lived in states without private sale transactions, which made ownership transparent to the databases), little could be done. There was no local sanctuary, no place to go, nowhere to hide.
Except in Wyoming.
Wyoming
Summer 2019
Several million gun owners take their summer vacation in the Cowboy State to sell their soon banned rifles, like London children relocated to the countryside during the Blitz. Huge purchasing depots are set up off the Interstates just inside the Wyoming borders at Evanston, Cheyenne, Sundance, and Ranchester. Sellers are encouraged to also bring any related cases, shooting gear, magazines, accessories, ammo, and reloading equipment.
I-25 south of Cheyenne is backed up for twelve miles. The Colorado State Patrol and the ATF erected a northbound lane checkpoint to ensnare front range Denverites eager to offload their rifles before the ban. A similar checkpoint is operated by the UHP and ATF on I-80 outside of Salt Lake City. Nebraska wanted checkpoints, but didn't have the resources.
Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota do not demean themselves with such checkpoints.
The smart travelers know to put their locked cased guns in the trunk, refuse to answer questions or consent to vehicular searches, and arrive via secondary routes. These folks make it to Wyoming. Other travelers do not. They are charged with illegal gun trafficking and have their firearms confiscated (as well as their cars under civil forfeiture laws).
Once in Wyoming, there is a final hurdle to clear. Because federal law prohibits the interstate private sale of guns, these out-of-staters are asked to sign a statement that they are "present in Wyoming with the intention of making a home here." Under USC Title 18 provisions, this gives them Wyoming residency with respect to the federal gun laws regulating transfers.
For all, the trip is arduous. They have to pack up their prized possessions, make it through a law enforcement gauntlet, and then muster up the final will to actually make the sale. As they bitterly sell their HK91s and FALs and M14s — as they weepingly relinquish the WW2 and Korea M1 Garands of their deceased warrior fathers — they are consoled by the assurance that these cherished instruments of war, sacrifice, and liberty will never end up in a federal smelter or hydraulic press.
Most take cash, but many accept OroCorp account credits in, hoping to someday return for good. Nearly 60,000 stay behind — political refugees happily living armed in tents, campers, and RVs — all vowing to sell their homes back in "Occupied Territory."
Cheyenne, Wyoming
August 2019
"Governor, that report you asked for is ready. The one on the forced urbanization of the rural West."
Preston smiles tiredly. "Oh, right. Thanks. I can't say I've been looking forward to reading this, but we must stay informed of our antagonists' intentions."
"RURAL CLEANSING"
[Do the] "Wild Earth" and the "Wildlands Project" advocate the end of industrial civilization? Most assuredly. Everything civilized must go!
— John Davis, Editor of Wild Earth, 1992
Isn't it the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring that about?
— Maurice
Strong, interview with Jim Johnston for the British Columbia Report, 18 May 1992, Vol.3/#37/p.22
(The liberal cultural revolution) is not willing to live and let live... Cheyenne, Wyoming, can tolerate the existence of New York City and Los Angeles, but L.A. and New York City can't abide knowing that, out there on the steppes and in the mountains of the Great American Desert, the other America is leading an existence that fits its own particular circumstances, customs, and preferences.
— Chilton Williamson, Jr., "Democracy and the Art of Handloading," Chronicles, Feb 2001
rural cleansing — to remove farm and ranch land from production by spurious ecological or environmental decree
Endangered Species Act (ESA) — legislation which protects plants and animals over human beings
toad throwing — using the US Dept. of Fish & Wildlife to harass a neighbor by sneaking an "Endangered Species" critter onto his property
God Squad — the Endangered Species Committee, a panel of seven cabinet-level officials convened to weigh the economic and social costs against risks of extinction, with override power of ESA provisions
After two generations of a largely successful war on the American people, the US Government (USG) is now targeting the last holdouts: rural citizens. Having won the battles of economics, finance, politics, travel, privacy, communication, and education, the two final hills for the USG to conquer are the family farm and the country ranch.
Molon Labe! Page 50