The prospect that Congressman Ron Paul will accede to the chairmanship of a House subcommittee with oversight of the Federal Reserve is the topic of an op-ed column in the Wall Street Journal by the editor of the Sun, Seth Lipsky. What Dr. Paul is in line to chair is the Subcommitee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology of the House Financial Services Committee. The exciting prospect is not so much the questioning of the chairman of the Fed, who traditionally appears before the full committee on Financial Services. Dr. Paul has long had a chance to grill the chairman, and has done so spectacularly on some occasions. What is exciting is the chance to open up a sustained debate on more strategic questions related to the monetary powers and disabilities of the Constitution.

Mr. Lipsky mentions, for example, the possibility of a sage like Edwin Vieira Jr. being called in to testify in respect of Constitutional money. Mr. Vieira, author of the magisterial two volume treatise “Pieces of Eight,” is the kind of figure who, given a platform, could illuminate vast parts of the debate over the dollar, going way beyond disputation over whether, say, QE2 is wise or not. Do we want a Fed? Even if we want one, is the delegation of power to it unconstitutional? Do we want prices to be denominated in dollars at all, or should we move to a pricing system that expresses prices in ounces — or grains — of gold or silver? Our hope in the coming months and years is that no question will be ruled off the table and that a deep and wide open investigation will be held in respect of what kind of monetary system was contemplated by the Founders of America, and Congressman Paul is the ideal man to do it.