Why Gold?

Sound money advocates, people who oppose the Fed, often argue that our financial system should go back to a gold standard. This would prevent governments from tinkering with our money as much as they presently do.

But why use gold? Why is gold so special?

From NPR:
"A Chemist Explains Why Gold Beat Out Lithium, Osmium, Einsteinium ..."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/11/18/131430755/a-chemist-explains-why-gold-beat-out-lithium-osmium-einsteinium

This quote sums it up pretty well:
"So we ask Sanat: If we could run the clock back and start history again, could things go a different way, or would gold emerge again as the element of choice?

"'For the earth, with every parameter we have, gold is the sweet spot,' he says. 'It would come out no other way.'"

Gold is NOT some arbitrary choice. There is a reason why it developed into the currency of choice over many centuries.