As more lawmakers grow concerned about the Federal Reserve’s continued quantitative easing efforts and the devaluation of the dollar, state legislators are supporting bills that recognize gold and silver as legal tender within their jurisdictions. Under legislation already passed in Utah and sponsored in as many as a dozen other states, privately minted gold and silver coins are considered legal tender, no different under state law than the US dollar. Arizona followed Utah’s lead April 8, when its House of Representatives approved a bill that sailed through the state senate in February. Senate Bill 1439 allows people within Arizona to use precious metals as money as long as businesses agree to take them. It is set to go into effect in 2014. The state’s department of revenue, however, is not required to accept gold as legal payment.

But what does the new Arizona law, and the movement of states to authorize bullion tender, mean? When it comes down to it, not a hill of beans. First of all, private businesses will be “allowed” to accept gold and silver coins if they choose. They won’t have to. And in all reality, private businesses can already choose to accept any form of payment they want. If business owners want to trade their goods or services for donkeys instead of dollars, it’s their prerogative. Of course no business owners in their right minds are going to do that, because they can’t pay their taxes in donkeys, or their bills. But it’s still their prerogative if that’s how they want to do it. And it really won’t be any different with the gold and silver coins. They won’t be payable to the department of revenue, so business owners will have to exchange them for dollars to pay their taxes or any bills they owe to businesses who don’t accept the metal currency. Might as well be donkeys.

Many experts believe the movement toward legalizing gold and silver currency is purely political in nature.

“I’m no financial expert but I am smart enough to know that you can’t keep printing money when it has no backing,” says Republican Rep. Mac Toole, according to WACH, the Fox News affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina. “The dollar should be backed by gold and silver, so we have hard money.”

But backing the dollar with gold and silver is completely different than authorizing the use of gold and silver coins in commerce. The US only used a genuine gold standard for its monetary system from 1879 to 1933. Prior to that, a bimetallic system in which silver was the dominant metal was in use. Then, after 1933, the US moved to a quasi-gold standard where the value of the dollar to gold was determined by the Federal Reserve. So although Richard Nixon largely gets the blame for abandoning the gold standard in 1971, it’s simply not the case. And now that we’ve been off the gold standard for so long, it would be almost impossible to change back.

Think about it: If gold and silver were to suddenly become legal tender everywhere in the US, no one would use Federal Reserve notes. The government would go bankrupt. Maybe some people think that’s a necessary evil, but a bankrupt government means no military, no Social Security, no federal road services, no federal support of any program. True chaos would ensue. Gold and silver coins might have theoretical value then, but there would be nowhere to spend them, so what would be the point? A donkey would be more worthwhile, because at least you could ride it when you couldn’t put gas in your car anymore.

In fact, Arizona Senator Steve Farley proposed an amendment to the state’s bill intended to point to the absurdity of the whole idea. His amendment, which was obviously unsuccessful, would have recognized other state commodities such as citrus fruit and even sunbeams as legal tender.

“It is simply grandstanding to get people afraid that somehow President Obama’s agenda is going to drive us into hyperinflation and economic collapse,” Farley told Bloomberg. “We have enough real problems to deal with. I don’t see undercutting our entire financial structure as a priority.”

Before the amended Arizona bill can be signed by Governor Jan Brewer, it must go back before the senate for approval. But the bill’s sponsor, Senator Chester Crandell, is confident of its ultimate passage into law.

“I think you look at some of the things that are happening and the amount of money printed by the Federal Reserve and who has control of that money, and I think anybody would be concerned,” Crandell told Bloomberg. “Gold and silver have been around a long time and people are secure with it and we should give them an opportunity to use it.”