Shadow governments

In America, we normally think of governments as permanent entities. The government, particularly the federal government, seems as immutable as any other force in our lives. But for much of our country's history, the authority of the government was not a given. Aside from struggles between the federal and state levels, the authority of the federal government was frequently challenged up until the last century. One example in our cultural history is that of the Utah Territory. Despite the official governance structure established by the U.S. government, much of the actual governance in the territory occurred through Church-established channels. While the Utah "shadow government" ended prior to statehood, it is a fascinating part of Utah history.

Recently, I have seen some intriguing echoes of this phenomenon. One dramatic example is just south of our border, where presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador has rejected the election results that favored his opponent, Felipe Calderón. As the NY Times reported on Saturday:

More than 150,000 supporters of the losing leftist candidate for president flooded into the capital’s historic square on Saturday and declared him “the legitimate president” of Mexico.

As his supporters roared approval, the candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, vowed to set up his own government and to fight against “a band of white-collar crooks and corrupt politicians” who he has said stole the election from him.

A similar but more dire situation currently exists in Somolia, where the Western-backed government has been exiled to the inland town of Baidoa and an Islamist coalition of tribes has occupied Mogadishu.

Even in the U.S., some groups challenge the authority of the government in subtle but significant ways. One such way is minting alternative currency. The National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code (commonly known as NORFED) makes a "currency" that competes with the U.S. dollar. LexisONE reports:

[NORFED] has been making the Liberty Dollar coins for eight years and claims $20 million is in circulation. The group says the money, unlike official U.S. cash, has a hedge against inflation because it is made almost entirely of silver and is backed by stocks of silver and gold in a vault in Idaho.

The coins are then spent by the group's 2,500 Liberty Associates in stores run by fellow supporters or are accepted unknowingly by clerks who are unaware they are not receiving real money.

The Justice Department has determined that use of Liberty Dollars, which come in varying denominations, "is a crime," according to the Mint, which issued a rare public warning Thursday."

The United States Mint is the only entity that can produce coins," Bailey says.

The Mint notes the coins share some resemblances to real money, such as the term "Trust in God" instead of "In God We Trust" and use of a torch in the design. Such similarities may confuse people into thinking the money is real, the Mint says.

But NORFED says it will challenge the government, arguing it has never claimed Liberty Dollars were official money and that it has a right to offer an alternative.

It appears that the spirit of prior "shadow governments" is alive and well in the United States, even if it does not manifest itself on same scale as other countries.