I’m not a big Weekly Standard reader (in fact, I think I’ve only read it a couple of times at airports back when they used to give them away) and, while Bill Kristol’s Sunday morning musings may not always ring true, this recent commentary did (hat tip NA).

And it’s worth further asking–as more and more people are beginning to  ask–whether a modernized international gold standard, which anchors  currencies to a standard outside government manipulation, wouldn’t  better serve the interests of free and limited government both at home  and abroad. After all, it’s the dollar’s status as a reserve currency  that has allowed the U.S. government to amass huge debts, debts which  the legislatively imposed debt ceiling has been unsuccessful in  limiting. Fiat currency seems to be related to bloated and unlimited  government, and to speculative bubbles, and to international  instability. Do we just to have to live with this, or simply hope for  better Fed chairmen?

Yes and yes. Amassing huge debts seems to be the one thing that, up until last November, both parties could agree on and it remains to be seen whether election year deficit rhetoric turns out to be anything more than that. As for better Fed chairmen, as long as the big banks keep getting bigger, that seems to be a lost hope.