In the movie "Contact" there is a point where the eccentric engineer S.R. Hadden says, "First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?" Or as the paraphrase rang out in my mind, "Why have one coin program when you can have two for twice the time!"
As you might have guessed I am referring to the newly introduced bill in the house, HR 6184 America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Act of 2008. Want to guess who introduced it?
...
If you guessed Representative Michael Castle of Delaware then you would be right! The man who brought us the State Quarter dollars program (and here I don't fault him, this has been a good program despite the lack of real artistry, it at least changed *something*) and the Presidential Dollar Coins comes a new 11 year long program to honor a national park or national site. And what little tidbit of goodness comes with this bill? Well check out Sec. 102 Paragraph 7 statement B. [Pauses while you all go read that] You have read correctly. If after 9 years the Secretary of the Treasury so decides, the program could go for a second round. A whopping 22 years of issuing 112 different designs to honor 2 sites per state/territory/district.
I think being in Delaware too long has clouded Mr. Castle's judgement. What America needs is not another ridiculously long coin program but bold leadership to enact change (pun intended) in our money. Something akin to Teddy Roosevelt and Augustus Saint Gaudens. Our coinage became stale when we started adding real dead people and historic places to our coins. Its Hotel California for money. But instead we could have another long program with little artistic merit. Want proof? Look at the Presidential Dollars. We all know to within a small margin what every single one of those coins is going to look like.
OK, I'm done for today because now I'm all worked up.
0 comments:
Post a Comment