Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found. Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position. Candidates are listed by party and in alphabetical order by last name. Black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria for inclusion.
Should the United States return to the gold standard in which coin and currency are backed by gold?
Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico, stated the following during a Jan. 19, 2010 interview with Mitchell Langbert, "Interview with Governor Gary Earl Johnson," available at www.rlc.org:
"The Federal Reserve deserves full responsibility for the housing bubble and as well deserves credit for mitigating the bust. Overriding that, the dollar is now worth a nickel. I understand the arguments for a free market in money and I support them. I shy away from the phrase 'regulate the Fed' because I do not want Barney Frank deciding monetary policy. I wouldn’t say the Fed needs to be abolished. I understand the argument for a gold standard, though. The US government should be pursuing a strong dollar policy, which the Fed hasn’t done." Jan. 19, 2010 Gary Johnson
Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, stated the following during a Jan. 25, 2012 interview on CNBC's The Kudlow Report, available at www.cnbc.com:
"You know, I'm happy to look at a whole range of ideas on how to have greater stability in our currency and in our monetary policies. I know that in the past when we had a gold standard, the idea that somehow it was detached from or free from any interference by Congress was simply wrong because even with the gold standard someone has to decide what is the conversion rate between the gold and the dollar...
And Congress can inflate the dollar simply by changing the exchange rate, as was done in the past. So I don't think there's any, if you will, magic bullet substitute for economic restraint, for not spending more money than you take in, for having the nation that's the most productive in the entire world. That's how you get wealth for the middle class is making America a more productive nation with high savings rates and a government that only spends what it takes in." Jan. 25, 2012 Mitt Romney
Ron Paul, US Representative (R-TX), stated the following on Nov. 29, 2011 during an interview with Andrew Napolitano on Fox News' Freedom Watch, available at YouTube.com:
"Judge Napolitano: What would happen in a Ron Paul presidency if we were to return to a gold standard. How soon could this happen and how would it happen?
Ron Paul: I wish we could do this overnight and we could do a few things like repealing the executive order of Nixon but that in and of itself wouldn't be enough...
I would like to have a transition period. Just legalize gold money, and allow us to use gold and silver as legal tender. And we can work our way back...
What we want to do is legalize the use of gold and silver as the constitution dictates rather then punishing the people who try to do that.
But yes, it will come about. I am quite convinced the system we have here will not be maintained and that's what these last four years are all about, and that's what the turmoil in Europe is all about.
So the question is: Are we going to move towards a constitutional form of money or are we going to go another step further into international money? Instead of having an international gold standard based on the market, will we go towards a UN, IMF standard, where they are going to control with the use of force, another fiat standard?" Nov. 29, 2011 Ron Paul
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