The problem I see is that fears of inflation swing much more wildly than actual inflation. If the gold price were a reflection of actual dollar instability, a chart of the inflation adjusted gold price should be a flat line. In fact it shows swings of several hundered percent.

The price of gold is a reflection of inflation fears, not of inflation. I'm not saying it is too high or too low right now. But gold is clearly unfit for purpose if you're looking for a safe haven or a store of value.

It's not just inflation, though. Compare the history of platinum prices with those of gold. There is definitely a psychological component to the run-ups in gold which has nothing to do with immediate economic pressures.

The Fed is not entirely independent of "dumb politicians" since it targets both inflation/deflation and unemployment. When politicians make exceptionally stupid decisions, such as borrowing too much money which results in a bubble of productive overcapacity that then pops and produces excess unemployment, then the Fed has to react by devaluing the dollar to bring unemployment under control. It would be preferable for it to have an adversarial relationship with the politicians in which it would raise interest rates when fiscal policy starts to get out of control in order to make sovereign borrowing too painful past a certain predefined level (such as a percentage of GDP) but this seems unlikely given that politicians are responsible for nominating and confirming Fed governors.

If you're joking you got me. I can't think of another commodity whose value is affected by the government to the degree of fiat currency. Even if you leave the impact of government borrowing/spending aside, a dollar (or any other fiat currency) is just a piece of paper until the government institutes legal tender laws and demands people make and accept payments denominated in that currency.