Pledge To Pay With Cash

Focus On America, a group that strives to promote individual liberty, family values, and the U.S. Constitution by actively participating in the political process and frequently hosts events in the Huntsville area, is urging people to fight back against "the march toward an all-digital financial system" by pledging to pay with cash. As while digital payments are quick and expedient for the younger generation, the most powerful strategy to "push back against the emerging digital control grid" is to keep cash in circulation.

With countries like the United Kingdom making headways to install mandatory digital identification, proponents of cash are concerned over the potential ramifications of such digital control. With the proponents of cash citing examples where in Canada during the Freedom Convoy of early 2022, truckers and their supporters had their bank accounts frozen. And another example of digital control taking place in June of 2023 when Nigel Farage in England had his account with the private bank of Coutts closed on him due to his pro-Brexit political views.

Proponents of cash equate cash to freedom. With The Solari Report, an online report founded by Catherine Austin Fitts, a graduate of the Wharton School of Business' MBA program, planning a quarterly initiative to highlight the importance of cash each for a solid week each quarter. As according to The Solari Report, cash is "privacy, independence, and local impact" all at once. For digital payments create permanent, trackable, records. With cards and digital transactions leaving data trails that third parties can analyze, sell, or monitor. Digital payments also reveal exactly where and when consumers made a purchase and make it possible for businesses, banks, and apps to "oversee, limit, or deny" how consumers spend their own money. While cash, on the other hand, cannot be "programmed or restricted".

Furthermore, Focus On America and The Solari Report, are urging businesses to promote their status as cash friendly businesses. As cash allows small businesses to keep more of what they earn since they avoid processing fees. And accepting cash allows their businesses to be open and accessible to all customers. Furthermore, card networks and banking systems, even in today's advanced digital age, still have a tendency to go down for periods at a time, and with cash, businesses can keep their businesses open in spite of the digital downturns.

It is important to note that while direct street robberies are lower when people carry debit cards, etc. rather than large amounts of cash, those same cards do have a higher risk of electronic fraud or theft of personal information. So, in essence, while robbery of one's physical person is lower with electronic cards, theft of funds is still a reality as it adapts to the digital age. A reality that most anybody who has ever ordered anything online can attest to.

Therefore, Focus On America is urging everybody to pledge in 2026 is make this the "year we keep cash – and freedom – circulating strong". With The Solari Report urging everybody to send in their cash stories to intel@solari.com as they wish to share peoples' stories, pictures, and commitments to keep cash.

Luisa Reyes is a Tuscaloosa Attorney, piano instructor, and vocalist.