Sawbuck irony ...

Why this hard on for Jackson, huh? You hear of a Slav general on trial for war crimes and your thoughts travel to Jackson? Ok, fine. You brought it forth as a point of philosophical debate. I get that, and its admirable. But here is the problem, and this is my central point - if you are looking to be offended, there is no large figure in the American political experience that will not offer one, or does not have a "stain" according to some group (insert Bill Clinton joke here), especially our presidents.

If you want to argue that there are better overall candidates for our money, because gracing our currency is an "honor", then fine. But if your (read: devil's advocate or any of his representatives) central point of reason for removing Jackson is the Indian Removal Act then I find it erroneous. Washington's stance on slavery is offensive to blacks (and any right thinking person); Adams forged the Alien & Sedition Acts, offensive to Libertarians (and again, any right thinking person); Jefferson while paying lip service to slavery, owned them to his death; and on and on and on. That's my point - there is no "perfect" candidate and once you start down the road of removing images due to an "offense" or stain offered to the descendants of one group or another you quickly, as a society, slip into removing the statues, paintings and literature for "offense" could be found in any CIC. I hope you see my point - you are entitled to your opinion's via your presidential report card and who you think deserves to be on the currency based on your overall rankings, that I have no quarrel with. But to point to the Indian Removal Act and say "because of this" he should be replaced, I find almost child like (as a response to the presumption he is responsible for 12,000 deaths), and a very slippery slope.

Now, do you even know why Jackson graces the $20? He, perhaps MORE than any other president in history DESERVES to be on the currency, and for a reason extremely relevant to today's fiscal policy. Jackson opposed with every fiber of his being a central bank. He didn't want a federal reserve (a stance very mich in line with Jefferson, his favorite president, I might add). He didn't want paper money that was not backed by gold or silver (his preferred currency), and even then disliked the idea of paper money over the amount of $1 and $5 dollar bills. As a great admirer of Jefferson, Jackson was in lock step with Jefferson's idea that (and I paraphrase a bit): "A central bank poses a greater threat to the liberty of men then a standing army." In his farewell address Jackson even warned against the evils of paper money. Within no other administration, at no other point in our history, are those warnings and reservations (pardon the pun) more relevant then today, with the federal reserve printing money to hand the treasury, then buying it right back in the form of debt - the proverbial robbing of Peter to pay Paul. Although Jackson successfully prevented such a bank or reserve in his years at the helm, years later it formed; and while the first $20 bill featured Grover Cleveland (crica 1914), in what some suspect was a sheer act of mockery the federal reserve put Jackson's face on the $20 bill in 1928 - now the most used denomination of currency currently within our system. Now there's a butt load of irony, huh? So, while every other president came to be on the currency by means not related to the currency itself, Jackson did. Every time one uses a $20 bill it could conceivably be used to spark debate on the value (or lack thereof) of our current fiscal policy - name me another face on our money that can do that.

Now, just to close this post let me list all the faces that grace our currency & ask a few questions ...

One-Cent coin: Abraham Lincoln
Nickel: Thomas Jefferson
Dime: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Quarter: George Washington
Half-Dollar: John F. Kennedy
Dollar: Sacagawea

George Washington on the $1 bill
Thomas Jefferson on the $2 bill
Abraham Lincoln on the $5 bill
Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill
Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill
Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill
Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill

William McKinley on the $500 bill
Grover Cleveland on the $1,000 bill
James Madison on the $5,000 bill
Salmon P. Chase on the $10,000 bill
Woodrow Wilson on the $100,000 currency note


First off, I had no idea who the hell Salmon P. Chase was. It turns out he was Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, a senator from Ohio and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He also founded the "Free Soil Party" and was an abolitionist long before Lincoln. I'm sure he's a fine candidate, but are you telling me HE is the "best" choice? And Woodrow Wilson? We might as well have Carter bill, as Wilson is the only president I dislike more. Undoubtedly Wilson gained this honor due to his being president during the time the Federal Reserve was coming into its' own. At any rate, as best I as can tell, congress votes to add or remove images from our currency, a practice that only began including human portraits in the 20th century. Perhaps Pelosi should solicit choices and reset all of our currency based on the most popular presidents / American figures. That would be a better use of her time then scolding the friggin Ottoman Empire ... although I shudder to think who would be the selected candidates under her guidance: Obama to be sure; probably Martin Sheen as she undoubtedly thinks he was actually president for a few years (West Wing); herself, botox & all; Ted Kennedy; someone having to do with gay something or another; and if I read her intellect right, the monopoly guy.