In January 2011, the advocacy group Utah Sound Money released a 30-second ad designed to stir up support for a new bill in the state legislature. “The almighty dollar’s not looking so almighty these days,” the announcer intones as storm clouds fill the screen. “The feds have us tap-dancing at the edge of financial ruin.” A small map of the U.S. totters along a rising red graph of debt. Suddenly, blue skies open as a giant gold coin floats down, using the Constitution as a parachute. “Restoring an inflation-proof, sound-money option offers a time-tested option,” the announcer concludes over the laughter of children at play. Viewers are then urged to support the Utah Sound Money Act.

Sponsored by Representative Brad Galvez, a Republican, the bill would make gold and silver coins from the U.S. Mint legal tender in the state. Although no businesses or individuals are compelled to use them, Galvez’s bill requires the state to accept the coins for tax payments or any government fees. Galvez says he was motivated by a fear that the nation’s mounting debt could lead to a loss of faith in the dollar, resulting in hyperinflation and possibly a currency collapse. He wanted to protect Utah, he says, from this calamity by creating an alternative to “fiat” currency, under which the dollar is backed by the “faith and credit” of the U.S.—not, as it once was, by gold reserves.