Should the guy who minted Ron Paul Liberty dollars be put in prison for 15 years? You know what they say, the?

It's important to note that he made a couple of glaring mistakes, such as using language that could be construed as similar to actual US currency. The authorities were stalking him for some time before they collected enough evidence to convict him. And they had to charge him with COUNTERFEITING, because it is not actually a crime to mint silver coins and use them as a medium of exchange, unless you are passing them off as US currency.

There are many other active barter networks using their own gold and silver currencies who don't have these problems because they didn't make the same mistakes he did.

Seems to me like they wanted to make a public example out of the guy, to frighten other folks away from alternative currencies. This is particularly evidenced by the statements made by the prosecutor, Anne Tompkins:

“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,”

“While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country,”

“We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government.”

If he was passing the "dollars" as legal tender then, yes, he was counterfeiting. The Constitution places responsibility for minting coins/printing money with the feds. A lot of organizations produce memorial or commemorative coins but they say right on them "not legal tender, etc.". If you're going to do the crime, you have to do the time. No man is above the law ...unless that man is a celebrity of some sort.

Not so fast, you can win both ways: http://www.survivalblog.com/nickels.html

It's not enough they have to tax your income, house, and car. They also need everyone to pay the inflation tax. It's how the welfare state gets funded.

Please supply a link to the news that this "crime" rates a 15 year prison sentence.