Monetary Relativism

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Description

Jordan MacLeod:

"Monetary relativism is not an official position or theory propagated in the world of academia like its moral and philosophical counterparts; but it is every bit as dangerous. It is not perhaps a conscious strand within the complementary currency movement but it is nevertheless prevalent within it.

I define monetary relativism as the belief that all forms of currency are equally valid or appropriate; and that no monetary design can be deemed better than another. As a consequence of this belief, the notion emerges that money can be arbitrarily created at the whims of an individual or group, that anyone and everyone should have the right to create money according to their personal desires and impulses.

As we have seen above, the problem with this position is that it ignores the context of economic, social and environmental life conditions and the impact of currency design on our ability to address what we deem the most critical and relevant challenges of our times.

I would suggest that monetary relativism emerges as a consequence of reacting against national fiat currencies, which are inherently monopolistic, arbitrary and concentrated forms of power that are also widely recognized, at least in the alternative currency movement, as imperfect (if not fatally flawed) for solving the challenges we face. Yet, rather than firmly state that only specific and more conscious monetary tools can address the complexity of global life conditions, monetary relativists react against this reality by stating that everyone should be able to produce the kinds of currencies that they see fit." (http://www.newcurrency.org/blog/new-currency/what-is-monetary-relativism/)