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Unfortunately, people like the penny in the US because it has Abe Lincoln on it. He was a Republican, and freed the slaves, so both political parties like him.
by jrockway 6y ago
Unfortunately, people like the penny in the US because it has Abe Lincoln on it. He was a Republican, and freed the slaves, so both political parties like him. That makes removing his coin somewhat difficult.
I grew up in Illinois ("Land of Lincoln") and it was one of the only states where you could pay toll with the penny, because Lincoln was such a powerful symbol. I guess that got killed off in 2017, however. (You can't use any coins now, it seems.)
(While researching this comment, I found it hilarious that IDOT had a COVID-19-related unpaid toll relief program, but they accidentally sent people $0.01 invoices because of how they "leveraged an existing system" to generate invoices. Another use for your penny!)
- projektfu 6y agoThen put him on the dime. Eisenhower was a good guy and he'd probably say the same thing.
- Mountain_Skies 6y agoFDR is on the dime and The March of Dimes likely would have an issue with him being replaced.
- projektfu 6y agoSilly me
- mjevans 6y agoIn the spirit of this idea: Put Lincoln on the quarter or even the back side of a dollar coin. Maybe this time make it out of titanium or something similarly like other US coins.
- interestica 6y agoI mean, I don't get why there is one-person-per-coin anyway. They already have one-off runs for special commemorations so it's not like there's fear of confusion (or fear of counterfeit). Keep one side standard and put all kinds of people on them. Though, one president might decide to out their own image on the coins. It'll be weird in Canada when we replace the queen on our coinage...
- cgb223 6y agoI mean he’s on the $5 bill as well. Isn’t that enough Lincoln for one countries currency?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- amelius 6y agoAlso: what will happen to the idiomatic expression "my two cents"?
- null0ranje 6y agoIt'll stick around. People still "drop a dime" on others, but payphones are largely a thing of the past and certainly aren't 10c anymore.
- mr_toad 6y agoYou still hear the phrase “spend a penny” even in countries that haven’t had pennies in decades.
- jpkoning 6y agoThis is why it's a good idea to put boring things like birds or bridges on currency.