I ran across an unlikely quote from Fabian Socialist

George Bernard Shaw: "You have to choose between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the government. And, with due respect to these gentlemen, I advise you to vote for gold."

I got it in the free newsletter Money and Markets. They believe Ben Bernanke is so afraid of deflation that he's going to inflate the money supply. Of course the Fed chair isn't a dictator, but the concern is that Ayn Rand's right about committees: they're run by the most persuasive member. At least when the members are more worried about power and prestige than accomplishing the goals for which they were founded.

The advantage of gold is that it serves the Market, not the whims and fashions of politicians. The Market has the virtue of being the aggregated decisions of a vastly larger and more diverse collective--indeed, the largest and most diverse collective possible. It's not infallible, but it does a better job of aggregating human wisdom than any smaller group can. See James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds for examples.