Debunking Rand Paul's Currency Conspiracy

With Rand Paul’s victory in the Kentucky Republican primary, an old conspiracy theory has suddenly gained a prime-time audience.

My latest column for The Week debunks Ron and Rand Paul's conspiracy theories about the creation of a future North American currency.

With Rand Paul’s victory in the Kentucky Republican primary, an old conspiracy theory has suddenly gained a prime-time audience.

Campaigning in Montana for his father, Ron Paul, in 2008, Rand Paul explicated his belief in an elite plot to replace the U.S. dollar with a new currency: “the Amero.” (You can listen to Rand Paul discuss the plot here.)

Creation of the Amero is alleged to be just one step toward a sinister “North American Union.” Another step is a putative “NAFTA super-highway” -- 10 lanes of roaring road stretching through the middle of the United States to connect Canada and Mexico.

In his struggle against the Amero, Rand Paul complains, “the thing you just have to be aware of is that, if you talk about it like it's a conspiracy, they'll paint you as a nut.” Paul adds: “It's not a conspiracy; they're out in the open about it.” …

But here’s what is most crazy about Rand Paul’s particular conspiracy theory. There is indeed one prominent American politician who does advocate abolishing the dollar as we know it – ending American financial sovereignty – and entrusting all monetary policy to foreign decision-makers. That politician, of course, is Rand’s father, Ron Paul.

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