America worships the almighty dollar, few will dispute that. Dollars are everywhere: in the hands of the rich and the poor, on the streets, in the banks, in our hopes and dreams. Even the poorest amongst us goes through at least a few bills a week, and even the richest amongst us still carry cash for contingencies. Money is a fiction we all agree to believe in. Banks only carry a few thousand in bills on hand. In all of the US, there are probably only a billion bank notes in circulation at any one time. Yet, people still have money. So, where is all that money coming from?

Cash is turned into numbers, which are kept safe in computers. Again, money is a fiction. Remember the 1930s? They are betting on the fact that they can hold your numbers for you. The dollar bills we trade are actually bank notes, backed by the Federal Reserve. We are trading in proxy; we trade promises for goods until the promises become goods. There is nothing necessarily wrong with all of this. The only problem comes when we are not able to understand or acknowledge that we deal in fictions. Just like flag burning in the ‘80s was a symbolic massacre of America, money can become the new artistic and symbolic medium of the 21st century.

Very little in America is still sacred. We can burn the flag and bare our breasts on the streets. Only a few reactionaries are still shocked by anything short of prejudice or violence. Still, even just the idea of burning or cutting or even defacing the dollar makes us cringe. In a wish to be free of this cultural obsession, I hearby found the Currency Cabal.

In our American speed-demon society, it’s hard to get heard with a message, unless you manage to somehow shove yourself into the faces of the people. A single dollar bill can go through ten or more different pairs of hands in a day, making it the most widely and randomly traveled medium of the modern world. As of yet, dollars have not been used to convey messages not pertaining to commerce.

I propose from here on out to make money our new medium. Every dollar that passes through your hands, sign with a message. Be it as simple as "Fuck Work" or as complicated as "This is a coupon good for one dollar off any purchase, anywhere", remember to spread your words and keep the currency flowing.

--Saint Mae Victoria, Denver. Boomtime, Chaos 27, 3165 - aka January 05, 1999.

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Want to JOIN the currency cabal? No membership dues required! All you have to do is WRITE SOMETHING on your $1 bills. ANYTHING. I write ERIS on mine, but somtimes I get more complicated and write things like "THIS IS A LIE" or "THIS IS A COUPON GOOD FOR $1 OFF ANY PURCHASE, ANYWHERE". The first time you do it, you feel kind of strange. I mean, fuck! That's money you're messing with! Vending machines won't take it after I write anything big on the back, but clerks at stores laugh and smile at me.

If you want to get in touch with me on this issue, for more information or just to say "I JOINED" (which I love to hear!), email me at stmae@discordian.com.

I guess I'm not the only one interested in the randomness of money. Someone emailed me a link to Where's George, an excellent site on currency tracking. You enter the serial number and denomination of your cash and the zip code you got it from. Eventually, someone else enters in your bill, and you find out where they got it. This site rocks! I marked all my bills for a while, and got several hits. Now I just need to get another rubber stamp, since I lost the last one....

Addendum: Others are getting in on this idea, it's not just Discordians and artists anymore. Here's a copy of an email I recieved on this. Name and email address changed to protect the not-so-innocent.