For evidence that the monetary policy debate has reached the political mainstream, this blog post by William Kristol of the Weekly Standard is pretty good:
it's worth further asking--as more and more people are beginning to ask--whether a modernized international gold standard, which anchors currencies to a standard outside government manipulation, wouldn't better serve the interests of free and limited government both at home and abroad. After all, it's the dollar's status as a reserve currency that has allowed the U.S. government to amass huge debts, debts which the legislatively imposed debt ceiling has been unsuccessful in limiting. Fiat currency seems to be related to bloated and unlimited government, and to speculative bubbles, and to international instability. Do we just to have to live with this, or simply hope for better Fed chairmen?
This isn't Ron Paul or even Seth Lipsky or Jim Grant, it's Bill Kristol.