Are We Going To Be Stuck With Dead Presidents Forever?

Unfortunately the Mint has seen an amazing interest in the State Quarters, the Dead Presidents and now even their wives. As long as people flock to the Mint web site, go to banks, coin shows, coin stores demanding more of them, that is what we will always see. The majority rules.

I would like to see our different flags..such as these

http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagpics.html

Copper, they are a lot better than the living ones.
Jim

My vote goes for the flag

Hello everyone.

At least on paper, the Founders, following the example and wishes of G. Washington, did not want their busts on the money. It's not in the Constitution, but it's pretty much set in stone that images of living people shouldn't appear on the money. There's one commemorative coin from the early 20th cent. that has Calvin Coolidge and another person on the obverse, and it was released while he was alive - I'm sure there are many who know a lot more than I could tell you more about that coin - but I think that's it.

I also agree that our coinage is mostly dull, and sometimes, as recently with some of the State Quarter and nickel designs, alarming. But just a couple of points:
1. Virtually all U.S. coinage from the Chain cent on have profile busts, whether of a dead president or Liberty, (exceptions are the SL quarter, Walkers, the St Gaudens double eagle and maybe some others) and it should be remembered that there are some series that depicted Liberty, and were immensely unpopular - Barber coinage comes to mind.

2. Our coins have remained basically unchanged since 1909 (a little earlier for gold coins). There's never been a series that even comes close to the Lincoln Cent in mileage. I think, it's not just the profusion of presidents, it's weariness of having the same coinage, basically unchanged in a century. It's not a century, but otherwise, the same goes for the quarter (1932- ), the nickel (1938) and the dime (1946).

3. There's no accounting for tastes. Personally, I'd like to go back to the emphasis on "Liberty" than on politics. But I find the profusion of new designs that have reached us mostly through commemoratives in the last 10 years to be a mixed lot, sometimes shockingly bad (the bizarre Jeff nickel from 2005, the current dollar coins).

Anyway, it's something I'll bet a lot of us have given a great deal of thought to. I was talking to a guy at work about coins, and he didn't know who it was that was on the coins in his pocket. This guy is an educated guy, over 50. And (full disclosure) I personally am becoming comfortable with the new nickel, perhaps because of its sorry context. Go figure.

I've been in the minority ever since the Presidential series was first suggested.

As a former history teacher, I like them.

Thing is, the mint (Government) is not going to change a thing just because collectors want such things as liberty and flags on our coinage.

Coins such as Statehood Quarters and Presidential dollars are a huge money making proposition. That's what's important.

Personally I think the coins are symbolic of america. It started off as a country built on freedom, liberty and all these other great things but has become a country where other things seem to matter more, where people support war for no good reason, many people worry more about money than other things.

You have a religious statement on your coins, yet the First Amendment says that government is supposed to be free from religion, so an atheist has to put up with seeing the word "God" every day.
You have presidents, who were supposed to be men of good standing, elected by the legislature so they did not become involved in a big popularity contest, even though Hilary Clinton et al. seem to think that that is all it is.

So I am not too sure whether getting rid of presidents who are not, as was claimed, people who would not wish to see their portraits on coins, maybe those prior to WW2 wouldn't have wished this, but post WW2 those who win do so because they want to be popular.
In an ideal world it would be those things that america was built on, but is that really america any more?