It's difficult to use that particular example, because in reality he was still paying them with cash, but just the cash value of the gold coins, rather than the

It's difficult to use that particular example, because in reality he was still paying them with cash, but just the cash value of the gold coins, rather than the gold coins themselves. I'm not disagreeing with you that the government wants to have its cake and eat it too, but so did that guy. Maybe the case wouldn't have been so clear-cut if he'd actually paid them in gold coins.