Likely presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has taken a lot of flak in recent weeks for his "Audit the Fed" bill.

But his father, former presidential candidate and former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is having none of the criticism.

"The Federal Reserve and its apologists in Congress and the media have launched numerous attacks on the Audit the Fed legislation," the father, now chairman of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, writes in a commentary for CNBC.

"These attacks amount to nothing more than distortions about the effects and intent of the audit bill."

When it comes to the argument that the bill will limit the Fed's independence, "neither Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen nor any other opponent of the audit bill has ever been able to identify any provision of the bill giving Congress power to dictate monetary policy," Paul writes.

"This argument is also flawed since the Federal Reserve has never been independent from political pressure," he notes.

"The most infamous example of a Federal Reserve chair bowing to political pressure is the way Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns tailored monetary policy to accommodate President Richard Nixon's demands for low interest rates. Nixon and Burns were even recorded mocking the idea of Federal Reserve independence."

While Paul concedes that the Fed is already audited, "these audits only reveal the amount of assets on the Fed's balance sheets," he explains. "The Audit the Fed bill will reveal what was purchased, when it was acquired and why it was acquired."

Bottom line: "For over a century, the Federal Reserve has operated in secrecy, to the benefit of the elites and the detriment of the people," he says.

"Don't the people have a right to know if they are being harmed by the current monetary system?"

As for the opponents of Audit the Fed, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appears to be one of them.

"We hold ourselves accountable pretty well," he said in panel discussion at the Brookings Institution last week, Barron's reports.

The Fed publicizes its policies, goals and economic projections throughout the year, with the chairman appearing before Congress twice a year. "I don't think Congress has failed to make the Fed accountable on those grounds," Bernanke noted.

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