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Generation Twit: Revenge of the Professional Left
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The Gospel According To Wright
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Feature
Lessons For Obama From Silent Cal
Frugal, laconic Calvin Coolidge instinctively applied his conservative principles. The result was just what we need today: low debt and rising prosperity.
(Page 2 of 2)
More recently, author William L. Shirer recalled “the incredible smugness and emptiness of the Calvin Coolidge era.” He was not alone in such cheap shots. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. castigated Coolidge for being too beholden to business and pictured him as a boorish philistine.
To today’s left, Coolidge was a bogeyman. The Huffington Post quoted an unnamed Washington Democrat who sought to tie the Tea Party to Coolidge. Mike Lux, a left-wing political consultant, linked him to the Paul Ryan budget: “[Republicans] want to take us back to the era of Calvin Coolidge, when the advances of the last 80 years simply didn’t exist,” Lux wrote on the Huffington Post.
On the other hand, many on the right long for a return to Coolidge’s principles. Peggy Noonan, among others, saw Coolidge in Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana. George Will calls him “the last president with a proper sense of his office’s constitutional proportions.” Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who served as the honorary co-chair of Rick Perry’s recent prayer event, predicted a President Perry “would be the most conservative president since Calvin Coolidge.”
Predictably, what Land hopes for, Andrew Romano of Newsweek fears. “Perry…would do more to limit the power of federal government — or at least attempt to do more—than any president since Calvin Coolidge,” Romano warned after reading an interview Perry did with his magazine last fall. But if Perry wants to claim the Coolidge mantle, he won’t be alone. Sarah Palin’s book America by Heart brims with favorable references to the 30th president. And Michele Bachmann extolled Coolidge’s economic policies on the House floor in 2009.
Unlike George W. Bush, Coolidge believed that sometimes the government can’t do much at all to mend the people’s woes. In fact, the trick often is to do nothing, which is what Coolidge did by vetoing a farm subsidy bill—the McNary-Haugen bill—in 1927 and again in 1928. “Farmers have never made much money. I don’t believe we can do much about it,” he explained. Coolidge’s was a government of limits because he recognized there are limits to what government can do. “It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones,” he rightly noted.
COOLIDGE’S VIEW OF government couldn’t be more different from President Obama’s. He believed in the “right of the individual to possess, enjoy, and control the dollar which he earns.” Liberty “would be…a mockery unless it secured to the individual the rewards of his own effort and industry.” President Obama doesn’t believe in such a right. “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money,” he preached. “We don’t want to stop [entrepreneurs] from fulfilling their responsibility to help grow our economy.”
Coolidge would never have said such a thing, because he understood what Obama does not, that personality matters a lot to policy. And he was a master of what one admirer called “brilliant flashes of silence.” “No man ever listened himself out of a job,” Coolidge noted on one occasion. Another time he declared, “I don’t recall any candidate for president that ever injured himself very much by not talking.” And then there was this: “They can’t hang you for what you don’t say.”
He was, in fact, a painfully shy man. When it came to his political thought, he was seeped in the classics—he translated Dante on his honeymoon—and the Founding Fathers. He genuinely believed in the Declaration of Independence’s teaching that all men were created equal, and he fought for it not only by keeping government limited, but by working to criminalize lynching and by extending the promise of citizenship to every Native American.
The last president to write most of his own speeches, Coolidge spoke so eloquently on so many subjects that it is a shame that few people read him today. Indeed, “Silent Cal” authored three collections of speeches and an autobiography. He wrote a daily, post-presidential syndicated column that numbered more than 300 pieces. He gave well over 500 press conferences during his five and half years as president. All of these well-attended chats were on background; Coolidge would let the press quote a serious administration official, but never him directly. “The words of the President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately,” he counseled in his Autobiography.
Obama, by comparison, uses words so indiscriminately that it seems hardly a day goes by when he doesn’t deliver a major speech. These are described as major because, in Obama’s view, nothing he does is minor. His favorite word is “unprecedented,” which he uses most about himself. Obama has suggested in some remarks that he fancies himself a new Lincoln, a political messiah, another “tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer.” Invoking Lincoln when he announced for president, Obama called on his fellow Americans to “gather…to transform a nation.” The question is toward what ends that transformation is intended.
For Obama, Lincoln is personal, but for Coolidge, Lincoln was political. Coolidge, too, was thought to be Lincoln’s “heir,” because he spoke so frequently of Lincoln’s political thought, often reverently. He argued that Lincoln was a great man because he “made the same appeal to his countrymen which all great men have made…it came not from his belief in their weakness but in their strength.” Lincoln’s “great achievement consisted in bringing the different elements of his country into a more truly moral relationship.”
But Coolidge, unlike Obama, never gave the impression he was the chosen one. He believed that it was the people who decided who was great. Obama, on the other hand, compared himself to Moses. Electing him would be the “moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal,” he said during his campaign.
COOLIDGE KNEW WELL the danger of letting politics go to the head. “Nine-tenths of [the visitors to the White House] want something they ought not to have,” he held. He had a simple solution for dealing with these visitors: “If you keep dead-still they will run down in three or four minutes.” President Obama, who fetes Andy Stern of the SEIU and other union leaders, gives such importunate visitors everything they want.
He was also determined to avoid being taken in by flatterers. “It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion,” he reflected. “They are surrounded by worshippers….They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exaltation, which sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in grave danger of becoming arrogant or careless.” President Obama is rightly denounced for being both, and it has something to do with the self-delusion fostered by the adulation he has received during his presidency, his 2008 campaign, and long before.
Conservatives should work toward nothing less than what Harding and Coolidge vowed in 1920—“a return to normalcy,” by which they meant a turn away from “things …go[ing] to hell in a handbasket,” as they had during the Wilson years. What Harding promised, Coolidge delivered. On the eve of the 2008 election, Obama promised to “fundamentally transform” America. He delivered, too, but with “hope and change” that have left us with a changed credit rating. The task now is to return to normalcy once more, before it’s too late.
It won’t be easy. But as Coolidge wrote: “It is a great advantage to a President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man. We draw our Presidents from the people. I came from them. I wish to be one of them again.” In 1928 he announced “I do not choose to run,” eschewed a likely election victory, and retired to Northampton, Massachusetts. Come 2012, we will have a chance to help Obama resemble Coolidge and quietly return to private life.
About the Author
Charles C. Johnson is a writer based in Los Angeles and author of a forthcoming biography of Calvin Coolidge.
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Alan Brooks| 11.22.11 @ 6:23AM
Obama is our only hope. Only Obama can protect our benefits and entitlements, governement entitlements are a basic human right as defined by the UN.
No one has the moral authority to demand that I work.
Pecos Pete| 11.22.11 @ 7:18AM
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire
class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on a socialist plan".. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little
were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they
wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
~Quoted from an anonymous source.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:31PM
Yeah, the problem with this little ditty is that it has completely ignored the power of money and lobbying from the equation. No one advocates that people shouldn't work and work hard - except the Righties to use as their bogieman.
But removing the power of the connected and monied is the fairness and equality doctrine that the Occupy movement espouses. That removal levels the playing field. Sure, the Constitution guarantees the right to redress grievances to the government, but do you really think Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Washington expected armies of lobbyists and special interests to descend on Washington alternately enticing or frightening Congress persons into voting for the lobbyist's interest? George Washington warned us about "factions" or political parties. Did we listen, no.
Franklin warned us about the danger of money overtaking the Republic. Did we listen, no.
So here we are, with the best Government money can buy, set up like a d* football game, where one side "wins" and the other side "loses", when in reality we all lose on way or another.
If we don't get the d* money out of politics, we are doomed - and it won't matter if you work, work hard, or don't work at all.
TrueBlue| 11.22.11 @ 6:43PM
Limit campaign contributions to $5000 per person, organization, and union. The Supreme Court says companies are people, so treat them like people, they get the same limits as a single private citizen does. At the end of the campaign, win or lose, the remaining money must be donated to a number of charities with a maximum of 10% of the funds per charity, or a single large check written to the federal government to be deducted from the deficit.
Then you take those congressional paychecks, put them on an equal scale as the average O-5/6 in the military makes, (can even be nice and include BAH/BAS) paid by their state of origin. They cannot vote themselves any further pay raises as their paycheck is directly related to the military payscale. For healthcare they can get TriCare Prime, no FEHB for Congress/President. While they are in office they cannot buy/sell/trade on ANY stock market in the world. All personal and business finances must be open to the public on a quarterly basis. Finances include any gifts they receive during their time in office and any money made for speeches or interviews.
Add to that term limits of 2 terms in the House, 2 in the Senate just as the President is limited. That will prevent career politicians since the longest any single member could be in elected office is 24 years.
To start it all off, vote out every single person currently holding an elected position in the Federal Government.
Also, to deal with the deficit every regulation agency should be dissolved, and every regulation should go before the new Congress and President for a simple yes or no vote. No addendums. That should keep them busy for their first two years or so and let the rest of us get around to the business of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
emo| 11.23.11 @ 10:13AM
The left always has an excuse for socialism's failures. Purpleguy says that utopia isnt possible so long as there are special interest groups and lobbying. Problem is socialism INCREASES lobbying as each group tries to get its hands in deeper to the public trough, tries to exempt itself from a rising tax burden or tries to exempt itself from increasing regulations. You want money out of politics??? Make Govt small and inconsequential.
StanO| 11.25.11 @ 5:46PM
Exactly "small and inconsequential". Some people don't seem to understand the column.
Richard Hilger| 11.23.11 @ 10:02AM
That's brilliant!
Old Soldier| 11.22.11 @ 9:06AM
Alan - I agree with your last sentence. One qualifier.
No one has the moral authority to demand that I pay for you not work.
Redstateboy| 11.22.11 @ 9:49AM
and what makes you think Alan Brooks has a job Old Soldier?
Old Soldier| 11.22.11 @ 11:12AM
If I'm not supporting him, I don't care.
Ground Control| 11.22.11 @ 10:36AM
I DEMAND that you work!
Aces and Eights| 11.22.11 @ 10:38AM
No one has the moral authority to demand my money.
Brooks, the English language is not sufficient to describe you. The closest one can come is "dirt."
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:05PM
Yes, they do.... The Church does, the Government does, and your wife does !
Aces and Eights| 11.22.11 @ 7:12PM
Uh, Purpster, the Church does not "demand" my money, and makes no claim to any such "moral authority." You are really ignorant. The Bible tells us we SHOULD give to the Church and to charity, but it does not "demand" that we do so. In fact the Bible specifically says that giving should be voluntary and should be done with a loving heart and not grudgingly.
The government has a "LEGAL" authority to tax me for legitimate Constitutional purposes. It does not have any "moral authority" to demand my money to subsidize others.
And I freely give to my wife. No demands necessary.
Three strikes. You're out.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:32PM
You said moral authority and indeed all 3 have moral authority for your money. The fact you don't seem toknow the difference between "Legal" and "Moral" is your own problem, and not a problem for me to solve.
Aces and Eights| 11.23.11 @ 11:54AM
My goodnes. Your stupidity is equaled only by your stubborness. There are THREE elements involved. "Moral", "Authority", and "Demand." Absent any single one of these, and your argument collapses. The Church does not "demand" my money. They as for it, politely. (You should try politeness sometime.) Government is raw power, not morality. And my wife makes no demand. Three strikes, you're out. No do-overs. And your problems are far too great for anyone to solve. Psychiatry has yet to understand your problem.
AhiaGuy| 11.22.11 @ 10:54AM
This comment finally convinces me that Mr. Brooks is merely a troll, tweaking the ire of others on these forums and doesn't really believe what he posts.
No one could be that mindless.
oldfart| 11.22.11 @ 1:45PM
Don’t you recognize sarcasm when you see it?
AhiaGuy| 11.22.11 @ 6:58PM
Yes, I recognize sarcasm, that's why I said he's basically a troll. He likes to post incendiary comments he doesn't really believe just to raise everyone's blood pressure. That's why I said no one could be that mindless. He went too far this time & revealed his trolling.
Bartender| 11.22.11 @ 11:27AM
No one has the moral obligation to feed you Brooks.
“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have a right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” (2 Thessalonians, 3:6-10)
Paul the Apostle, writing on behalf of God himself, is telling you to work for your keep. I think Paul has more moral authority than you do, jackass.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:35PM
Oh, thank you ... not only are none of us Jesus Christ, but he tells you that none of us are expected to meet his ability. "... not because we do not have a right to such help,..." - Clearly he is stating that we DO have the right to such help, but to strive for his example. If you cannot make it to Jesus Christ's level, you still have the right to help. Stamped, Sealed and Delivered by the Lord Himself. You have now heard it from the incontestable source, so get over your whining about people that are poor, indigent, disabled, elderly or otherwise indisposed to daily labor.
TrueBlue| 11.22.11 @ 6:47PM
No issues with helping those who can't work, just those who can and won't, a far greater number.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:33PM
Factual data I can find does not bear that out... you have any factual data to back up your claim, or do you just "believe" it?
Bartender| 11.22.11 @ 7:16PM
Purpleguy, sorry to break it to you, but the quote I provided was written by Paul the Apostle, not Jesus Christ. Paul was speaking about his right to support for the WORK he was doing in spreading God's word (you should try it some time.) Paul further admonishes those who would "demand" support despite refusing to work for it. You don't read very well, do you?
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:35PM
If that's the case, then I can dismiss it without being sacreligious, now can't I? So you point is completely useless. His opinion is as good as mine or yours.
Invoking "in the name of Jesus Christ ... " is a trick, which tells me I am completely justified in ignoring such a cheap trick.
Bartender| 11.23.11 @ 12:01PM
You're funny. Stupid, but funny. Clearly, you have never read the Bible and just as clearly you can't understand what you do read. I did not invoke the "name of Jesus Christ." Paul the Apostle did, 2000 years ago. Paul wrote a very large part of the New Testament. You keep changing the subject to make a point, but you never actually make a point. You present no facts and no logic. Everything you post is a"cheap trick." The bottom line is YOU claim a moral authority to take other people's money in order to distribute it as YOU see fit, taking politcal advantage in the process. You have no morals and thus no authority to make demands. You are nothing.
W| 11.22.11 @ 12:03PM
I'm with your Brooks, why work?
Mrs. Vito| 11.22.11 @ 1:25PM
Rights defined by the U.N.??? Get a grip, get a copy of the Constitution, and then get a f*cking job. Being ignorant and lazy is no way to get through life.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:37PM
Why is that all you people ever do when you don't like someone's words is tell them to get a job, lazy good for nothing? I thought all the elites are on the left? Don't you think they have jobs, being the elite and all. I'm sure they get paid more than you, don't you think?
Riff Raff| 11.22.11 @ 7:17PM
I know that leftist elitists make more money than I do. Some legitimately too!
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:37PM
If you've seen the net worth of Congress, you can bet there a lot of elites on the right that make a whole lot more money than any of us too... Elite is not a leftist phenomenon, despite Rush Loudmouths and Bill O'the Clown's rantings.
emo| 11.23.11 @ 10:15AM
Of the Top 10 wealthiest members of congress something like 8 are RATS
old white guy| 11.22.11 @ 1:57PM
brooks, one would hope your drivel is sarc but i doubt it. intelligence and critical analysis skills are lacking in america today. there are so many stupid people that all will eventually starve to death because most could not survive the three days it would take supermarkets to run out of food they could steal.
jan| 11.23.11 @ 2:55PM
He moron, there is such a thing as the constitution, we are not governed by the crooked US hating UN crowd. How about you move to Cuba, you would like it there.
StanO| 11.25.11 @ 5:48PM
You really need to remember when posting use something like (not dripping sarcasm), we have not tones or expressions to know you're joking.
Pecos Pete| 11.22.11 @ 7:14AM
"Come 2012, we will have a chance to help Obama resemble Coolidge and quietly return to private life."
We can hope that King O's return to private life is in 2012 and that he quietly recedes into the sunset.
Bill A | 11.22.11 @ 11:45AM
Unfortunately President Obama is of an age where I suspect we shall have to endure him as an ex-president for some time to come. It scares me to think of the mischief this man can cause in the next thirty or so years. He actually believes this nonsense he spouts and he will always have some idealistic Americans who will follow his pipers tune.
Mrs. Vito| 11.22.11 @ 1:30PM
Haven't you heard? Barry, Eric, & Maxine have all signed on to be extras on the new Dave Chappell show! Coming January 2013! (LOL)
Walking Horse | 11.22.11 @ 2:04PM
A point that leads quickly to dyspepsia. Imagine Obama as Secretary General of the United Nations. In some respects, he and the UN deserve one another.
old white guy| 11.22.11 @ 2:03PM
if someone, anyone would actually investigate obama you would not have to worry about his future.
c. j. acworth| 11.22.11 @ 7:19AM
Dare I suggest "Zombie Coolidge 2012"?
Timothy L. Pennell| 11.22.11 @ 7:31AM
Lessons from Coolidge. How about lessons from the BIBLE? What about lessons from our Founders? Or, the Pilgrims? Or from all of the people who Settled this Country?
These people didn't ASK for a fish. They went out and Shot one, if they needed to feed their family.
How many MONTHS did the Pilgrims spend aboard a Small Wooden Ship, to get to FREEDOM? What did our Founding Fathers risk: Their Lives, their Property, and their Sacred Honour, to get to FREEDOM? How many Centuries did the Jews have to live under Inquisition, Persecution, and threat of EXTERMINATION, to get back to their Homeland and FREEDOM?
"If one is willing to trade his Liberties in, for a little more Security? Than he deserves NEITHER." Benjamin Franklin (I'm PARAPHRASING)
All of these things are foreign to our Young Pharaoh. He who was RAISED in another Land, and in a belief that is anathema to our Judeo/Christian Heritage. He is of ISLAM. A word that translates to: SUBMIT.
Is it any wonder that he seeks to RULE us, as opposed to Governing. He seeks no Compromise, with the Opposition Party. "I WON". He LIES with abandon, and he will get HIS WAY, by any means necessary.
His Lessons are from other places. His Lessons come from LENIN, STALIN, and HITLER. He divides us. He pits one group against another. He singles out the JEWS. When he say: "Millionaires and Billionaires"? What he's really saying is: JEW.
He fills the Streets with his Brown Shirts. He fills the streets with his Street Gang Unions. He sends buses, filled with his most Sycophantic Followers: ACORN and SEIU, to the Homes of his Enemies, to Terrorize their FAMILIES. He Organizes with his Lieutenants: Van Jones/Richard Trumpka/Code Pink and Moveon.org. to Occupy OUR CITIES, hoping for a Kristallnacht, or a Burning of the Reichstag. And, all the while, his Flank is PROTECTED by his minions from the JournOlists.
If you fail to LEARN from History. You will be DOOMED to repeat it.
We've seen this all before. And we've seen it, many times. A NARCISSIST with enormous Power at his disposal, with only a WEAK Opposition to stand in his way. He has followers, at his beck and call, who are willing to DO ANYTHING for their Pharaoh. Their King. Their FUHRER. The people always suffer. And it NEVER ends well.
My Flag goes UPSIDE DOWN, today. And it stays that way, until this THING is gone. Join me.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:41PM
Wow... this says more about your own bigotry than about anything else, but I'll bet you don't even know it. Since you're not an elite, how could you understand?
But I should ask, what sacrifice, aka. the Pilgrims, are you willing to endure? Raise your taxes, or take no Social Security or Medicare? Uh-huh, as I thought ... all talk.
TrueBlue| 11.22.11 @ 6:49PM
We're already not going to get SS or Medicare by the time we're of age to collect, so that's a simple sacrifice.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:39PM
Not true ... your Grandmothers and Grandfathers will fight for you too ... and THEY vote and get results.
Ground Control| 11.22.11 @ 7:19PM
Sheesh! You never quit. Take yoour false accusations of "bigotry" and depart. You clearly have nothing of substance to contribute. You really not very bright, are you?
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:38PM
And, pray tell, naysayer, what have you added to any debate ? People in glass houses ... well, you know.
JimCooke | 11.22.11 @ 9:08PM
Mr. Pennell,
Our Pilgrim Forefathers and Foremothers spent 65 miserable days on their small wooden ship. They were not so much looking for FREEDOM as the right to worship as they saw fit and, subsequently: See that everyone else did, too.
I don't know if they ASKED for fish but we do have William Bradford's record describing what they found: " . . . two of the Indian's houses covered with mats, and some of their implements in them; but the people had run away and could not be seen. They also found more corn, and beans of various colours. These they brought away, intending to give them full satisfaction . . ."
"And it is to be noted as a special providence of God, and a great mercy to this poor people, that they thus got seed to plant corn the next year, or they might have starved; for they had none, nor any likelihood of getting any, till too late for the planting season."
So, basically - Our Pilgrim Father's stole the Indian's corn and farming tools and, while they had a Bible - They lacked seed! Now, thanks to the Bounty of the Lord they could plant.
Timothy L. Pennell| 11.23.11 @ 9:30AM
So, what you're saying is that the FREEDOM to Worship as you see fit, is NOT FREEDOM? Is that what you're saying?
Don't forget how Columbus killed all those Indians. And all the Slaves that our Founders had. And that Ben Franklin spent his time Whoring around Paris, while Thomas Jefferson was banging the Slaves.
I can't imagine being you. We are Men. We are Human Men. We are flawed. Sometimes, terribly. But, if that's all you can see, when you look in the mirror? Than, maybe it's time to put down the Machiavelli Books, and go kill yourself.
R. Harbin| 11.22.11 @ 7:31AM
I loved this article.
Mr. Johnson, what books about Calvin Coolidge would you recommend?
Intelligent Design| 11.22.11 @ 8:03AM
A good book to read about Coolidge is American Enigma by Robert Sobel. Coolidge could indeed provide some direction today, as he did for Ronald Reagan.
R. Harbin| 11.22.11 @ 9:42AM
Thank you! I will look for this book today!
Al Adab| 11.22.11 @ 10:14AM
Recently out was, "The High Tide of American Conservatism" about the 1924 election between Coolidge and John W. Davis. Very enlightening about what our government was designed to be and should be.
K2K| 11.22.11 @ 11:58AM
Mr. Harbin: In 2004, I wrote a paper on Coolidge for a grad course "History of the American Presidency". The assignment was to choose one president, and assess his presidency, using two examples each for domestic and foreign policy accomplishments, in terms of presidential leadership, and be persuadable in challenging the "Greatness" rankings of presidential hisorians.
My professor recommended I turn my paper into a full biography, which I declined to do.
What I found was the best way to understand the Coolidge presidency is to start with the context of American social (massive immigration prior to 1918) and economic history (electricity) were two major factors shaping American politics.
Then, read the U.S. Constitution (again) and Coolidge's autobiography from 1929.
Then, read his actual speeches - easily available online.
And then, I scoured academic journals - here are a few that helped:
Blair, John L. “Coolidge the Image-Maker: The President and the Press, 1923- 1929” The New England Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 4 (December, 1973), 499-522.
McVeigh, Rory. “Structural Incentives for Conservative Mobilization: Power Devaluation and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1925” Social Forces, Vol. 77, No. 4 (June 1999), 1461-1496.
New York Times archive: “Coolidge Assails LaFollette Views on Supreme Court: President Warns of ’Deliberate and Determined Effort to Break Down Constitution. Calls on People to Act. Shall America Remain American or be Communistic and Socialistic? He Asks.” September 7, 1924, 1, 30 ”
Quoting (in exasperation) from my paper, and one excerpt from Coolidge's speech: "...the overarching perception that Coolidge was the minister of American business, based on the most famous Coolidge quote: “the chief business of the American people is business.”
Rarely has a quote been taken so out of context. In this speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Coolidge was addressing the potential conflict between editorial freedom in a business concerned with being a business. The following excerpts provide the context of this infamous quote. One wonders why Coolidge is not instead remembered for his closing quote, “The chief ideal of the American people is idealism.”
[Coolidge “The Press Under a Free Government”, Address before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, D.C., January 17, 1925] "... our times in all their social and economic aspects are more complex than any past period. We need to keep our minds free from prejudice and bias. Of education, and of real information we cannot get too much. But of propaganda, which is tainted or perverted information, we cannot have too little. ... Editorial policy and news policy must not be influenced by business consideration; business policies must not be affected by editorial programs. … it is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation, is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences. After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. ..."
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:46PM
Coolidge lost that battle. We are a Judeo-Christian Socio-capitalist country and have been since the Civil War ... we're all socialists and capitalists. Unless you work solely for an earned wage, you are a socialist. Your schools are provided by the government, and so is fire, police and a myriad of other things by the government. Any benefits given you by your employer classifies as socialism, all employees are treated the same, mandated by law. So my little timmies you are railing against yourself ... the argument is simply over degrees of socio-capitalism. Look in the mirror - there's a socialist looking back at you.
albert constantine jr.| 11.22.11 @ 5:22PM
What do you mean "we", purple? (With credit to the best Tonto, Mr. Jay Silverheels).
TrueBlue| 11.22.11 @ 6:52PM
Ah, but you say it as if we have a choice. There are a great many that would willingly remove all of that from government control.
AhiaGuy| 11.22.11 @ 7:06PM
How er...true, TrueBlue.
As one quick example, I would far rather choose the Chilean system in a heartbeat, where my retirement funds would be owned by me, not the government, I could choose where my money was invested, and when I die, my investment could be passed on to my heirs, not the government.
Under such a system, I would receive an annualized return, adjusted for inflation of around 7+% rather than the 2+% that Social Security gets (according to the US Treasury Dept.)
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:42PM
Please don't forget that one, itty, bitty, fact that in Chile the government GUARANTEES that your pension will return at least what the old Social Security System returns or the government PAYS the difference.... That is a whole lot different ... it is still a government GUARANTEE. I'm sure conservatives wouldn't like that, because you aren't at the whim of market forces, or your dependent on the government, or somewhere there is moral hazard, don't you agree?
Ground Control| 11.22.11 @ 7:20PM
Socialism simply can not survive without a capitalist economy to steal from. And "we" are not all both socialists and capitalists. The leadership of the Democrat Party clearly has abandoned any semblance of capitalism.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:44PM
Nah, that's just the narrative on the right .... the Democrats feed at the same trough of pig money as the Republicants.... they just stand for domestic tranquility more than the Republicans, who stress common defense more.
emo| 11.23.11 @ 10:17AM
Purple:
You nitwit. Even the most right wing economists understand the concept of a "public good"
StanO| 11.25.11 @ 5:53PM
Employee benefits are by definition not Socialism unless they are paid for by governement or are a back door tax on business (mandates, rules etc.).
Paul S.| 11.23.11 @ 5:00AM
Thank you for your substantive contribution to the discussion.
Richard Baker| 11.22.11 @ 7:38AM
There was a good reason the President Reagan had Coolidge's picture prominently displayed in the White House. Coolidge believed that " the business of the American people was business" and not the corrupted version usually mentioned. He had faith in America's greatest asset being the industry of the people and not the dead hand of government.
Indy| 11.22.11 @ 7:46AM
Coolidge was President prior to the rise of the welfare state and when voters were much better educated. Today's voter falls prey to 30 second sound bites and the liberal media, so few do their own homework. 2012 is the last chance to turn this ship around, every election matters, we need to focus on the Senate, House and elect strong governors, this election is much more than the White House.
R. Harbin| 11.22.11 @ 7:49AM
Mr. Pennell, our posts went up at the same time.
Many of us have your same concerns. Of course our lessons should come from the Bible.
It is still instructive to study history (as you said)
and to consider Calvin Coolidge. He was a humble man. In the Beatitudes humilty is first in the list.
Anyway, many people feel your same level of concern.
Timothy L. Pennell| 11.22.11 @ 9:15AM
I understand about "Silent Cal". But we delude ourselves, when we take our eyes off the ball. Reminiscing is a luxury that we can ill afford. This Country will CEASE YO EXIST, if this Abomination re-takes the Oath of Office, next January.
I see nothing to be learned from Calvin Coolidge, that good people, people who love this Country, don't already know.
We must KNOW THINE ENEMY. We must study, what HIS beliefs are. Where HIS Allegiance lies. And how we can STOP HIM, before it's too late.
Every Generation needs to PROTECT our Liberties. What we have, here, is special. It's Priceless. And, like most Priceless things, it is very FRAGILE, and there are those who would STEAL IT from us, and our Children.
"The price of Liberty, is ETERNAL VIGILANCE."
Indeed.
Let's keep our eyes on the ball, shall we? We can talk of pleasantries, once the Battle has been Won.
StanO| 11.25.11 @ 5:55PM
"I see nothing to be learned from Calvin Coolidge, that good people, people who love this Country, don't already know."
The problem is the profound ignorance of the American people. None of this is taught in public schools. They need exposure to unrefined history, undiluted facts.
olainfree| 11.22.11 @ 8:28AM
Another contrast between Coolidge and Obama is that everything Obama says and does is considered "historical" in his own mind and in that of his sycophants.
Old Soldier| 11.22.11 @ 9:09AM
I am a great admirer of Coolidge. A quite, humble and wise man. He had the wisdom to recognize the limitations of government and restrain himself.
How much better off would this country be if Congress and the White House was filled with similar men and women? Only term limits could make it possible.
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 10:04AM
Obama never learned from the "Shellacking" defeat in the 2010 midterm election, and he will never change his Marxist agenda for the sake of saving America. He is an ideologue who is in complete denial of the dire fiscal situation of America, and has no clue how to fix it.
SUBVET| 11.25.11 @ 11:22AM
BILL.......he doesn't want to fix it only change it.
Peppermint Tea| 11.22.11 @ 10:15AM
It's a shame, Bill. "A man has to know his limitations."
AhiaGuy| 11.22.11 @ 11:04AM
Ah, Pepper. One of my favorite lines from a great director & actor, who was also admired by Mr. Reagan.
As the election approaches and the Left continues its assault on our values, we would do well to remember another:
"Endeavor to persevere."
Mike 3/505| 11.22.11 @ 2:45PM
Chief Dan George, The Outlaw Josey Wales.
AhiaGuy| 11.22.11 @ 7:13PM
Terrific movie, Mike, one of Eastwood's best. The classic saga of the everyman refusing to submit to injustice, while simply wishing to be left alone.
Another classic is "Open Range."
Boss Spearman: "Man's got a right to protect his property and his life, and we ain't lettin' no rancher or his lawman take either. "
cuban pete| 11.22.11 @ 9:14PM
John Vernon's character Fletcher has the best line and applicable today.
"Don't p*ss down my back and tell me its raining"
AhiaGuy| 11.23.11 @ 8:54AM
Yeah, Pete, I like to quote that one too, especially when discussing politics.
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 10:21AM
Let Barack Obama = Jimi Carter, if you think 2012 = 1980, Depression of 1980 = Obama Recession of 2011, then Obama is losing his re-election bid. Uh............................................
Ground Control| 11.22.11 @ 10:45AM
Asking O'Bozo to "learn" from Coolidge is an exercise in futility. One, this person is incapable of learning anything. O'Bozo is just too stupid to understand even the most basic elements of economics. This is why he has handlers. O'Bozo himself is just a puppet for global socialists and a true believer in the socialist ideal. Two, such a request is predicated on the assumption that O'Bozo even wants to improve the economy. This is self-evidently false. As a "true believer" O'Bozo is not only willing, but EAGER to destroy American prosperity at the behest of his handlers, in order to rebuild the economy on the socialist model. Which means poverty for everyone except government elites and their cronies.
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 10:57AM
Obama's mentors are Lenin, Mao,Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and The Black Panther Party of Chicagoooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 11:09AM
Here's a set of politico:
~Milton Friedman, William F. Buckley Jr, Mark Levine, Rush Limbaugh, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Rick Perry, Jim Demint
~Margaret Thatcher, Michelle Banchmann, Sarah Palin, Nikki Haley, Susan Martinez
~Lenin, Stalin, Mao,Fidel Castro, L.B.J., Jimi Carter, Barack Obama
~The Democratic Party (USA), Labor Party (UK) SEIU, ACLU, ACORN, the Nazi Party (Germany)
~The Republican Party (USA), The Conservative Party (UK), NRA, Club for Growth
~The Constitution, We The People, In God We Trust, Liberty, Democracy
~Government, Tyranny, Recession, Despair, Revolt
K2K| 11.22.11 @ 12:14PM
President Coolidge, Speech before the American Legion Convention, Omaha, Nebraska October 6, 1925:
“The bringing together of all these different national, racial, religious, and cultural elements has made our country a kind of composite of the rest of the world, and we can render no greater service than by demonstrating the possibility of harmonious cooperation among so many various groups. Every one of them has something characteristic and significant of great value to cast into the common fund of our material, intellectual, and spiritual resources…. By tolerance I do not mean indifference to evil. I mean respect for different kinds of good. Whether one traces his Americanisms back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.”
Obama used that last line in his 2004 DNC speech.
Michelle's first act as First Lady was to remove the official portrait of Grace Coolidge from the WH China (as in table settings) Room to an undisclosed location - even Jackie Kennedy had a hard time competing with the fashionable, wildly popular, college-educated Grace Coolidge, accompanied by the family collie, Rob Roy in this official portrait...
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 12:51PM
Breaking News!!!!!!!!
Reporter: Mr. Cain, Are you a conservative or liberal?
Herman Cain: 9-9-9
Reporter: Did you happen to know Sharon Bialek ?
Herman Cain : 9-9-9
Reporter: Do you know Lady Gaga?
Herman Cain : 9-9-9
Reporter: Are you awake?
Herman Cain: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.......
StanO| 11.25.11 @ 5:59PM
Whatever your point is . . . don't quit your day job
Mills| 11.22.11 @ 1:12PM
Here's another great quote from Calvin Coolidge:
“Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberality, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government. There are only two main theories of government in the world. One rests on righteousness and the other on force. One appeals to reason and the other appeals to the sword. One is exemplified n the republic, the other is represented by a despotism.
The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of law for the virtue of man. Of course we endeavor to restrain the vicious, and furnish a fair degree of security and protection by legislation and police control, but the real reform which society in these days is seeking will come as a result of our religious convictions, or they will not come at all. Peace, justice, humanity, charity—these cannot be legislated into being. They are the result of divine grace.”
FiddlerBob| 11.22.11 @ 1:18PM
The most critical contrast was saved for the final paragraph. Too bad the author chose not to expand his excellent article just a little more.
President Coolidge came from the people, served the people, and returned to the people whom he loved and respected.
Mr. Obama, obviously enamored of himself, is a usurper serving foreign masters. Born under foreign jurisdiction, he is not a member of our society, he has no respect for our laws and traditions, and has no intention of ever joining the people of this nation whom he despises. In direct contrast to Coolidge, Obama's only interest in our laws is in how he can use them against us.
Mr. Obama is exactly why the founders required that the president must be a "Natural Born Citizen" - one born in the country of two citizen parents. Even if we accept Obama's amateurishly forged birth documents as fact, he has stipulated that he was born of a British/Kenyan father. So, no matter where he was born, he is not a natural born citizen of the USA. It's that simple.
MyGirlFriday| 11.22.11 @ 1:59PM
Thank you Mr. Johnson for your wonderful article. Two words came to my mind while reading your comparisons of President Coolidge and President Obama; Prudence vs. Reckless. I have placed Coolidge on my reading list.
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 2:26PM
Barack Obama failed America once again, it's time for us to send him back to Chicago, the land of mobs and anarchy.
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 2:51PM
We need Gov Rick perry, a solid conservative leader who will unite the GOP voters, defeat Obama in a landslide, fix the fiscal crisis we have right now, and restore America's pride and glory. Rick Perry is an articulate, solid conservative, proven problem solver, and electable, unlike nobody in the current GOP field. Remember, he is from Texas-a must win state for GOP presidential candidate in 2012. If we lose TX, we will lose America forever.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:15PM
Rick "Oops, now what was that 3rd department I wanted to scrap? " Perry that can't string 2 sentences together? Him? LMAO ... please stop, my side hurts ...
Dick Nome| 11.22.11 @ 7:46PM
As Obama said when his teleprompter broke down, " Uhh, Uhhh, Uhh, Uhhh". Without it he can't get a coherent thought on his own.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:47PM
Then you haven't watched him much, like when he buried the Republicans in Congress impromptu and real time when he allowed them to question him. He ran circles around them... whereas Perry would have trouble running circles around himself - What was that horrible Federal agency I was told I want to abolish? Now what was that little sucker, oh, sorry, I can't, Oops. Hahaha... please let it be Perry.
emo| 11.23.11 @ 10:19AM
Like the time he used his community organizing skills to shut down Paul Ryan and not let him speak. Yeah it takes a real sharp mind to say" I won, you lost"
loulou| 11.22.11 @ 4:15PM
Apparently Perry's puppetmaster is none other than the Muslim Grover Norquist. The DREAM Act was bad enough but palling around with a jihadi is a deal breaker. Sorry.
emo| 11.23.11 @ 10:20AM
So if a Jihadi says lower tax rates and a socialist says raise them, youd raise them and youd think all the benefits of lower tax rates are null and void since they came from a jihadi.
Bill| 11.22.11 @ 3:06PM
Obama SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:48PM
Really? and you know this how? did you like it?
Juan Jose Morales-Castillo | 11.22.11 @ 3:40PM
'tis most remarkable, even amazing, how Harding and Coolidge are now compared to Obombast, and Obombast comes out as the total loser. Obviously the era of US Presidents, particularly those of the Dem Party, wanting to be the second Franklin Roosevelt is past and gone.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 4:11PM
Oh, sure, during the 1920's, the same lack of regulation of financial transactions led to the Great Depression when the bottom dropped. Sure, capitalism generates activity, since it's based on greed. Unbridled capitalism is cruel, heartless and creates a dog-eat-dog mentality. The 1920's were boom times, sure, but who wants to repeat the crash following Calvin Coolidge's term? Herbert Hoover, of course, gets the blame, but he didn't do it alone ...O'l Cal helped him do it.
In view of what we are in the middle of that started in 2007, why in the world would you want to follow the policies again and repeat the same stupid mistakes all over again?
BTW - The American Government and Industry have had a partnership, and Industrial Policy, since the Revolution - until Ronald Reagan destroyed it. That's why other countries keep eating our lunch.
loulou| 11.22.11 @ 4:16PM
You are an illiterate when it comes to history. But what else should one expect from an SEIU parasite?
Dick Nome| 11.22.11 @ 4:29PM
Socialism is what's based on greed. People who are non-producers want what the producers have without working for it. So they take it.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 6:48PM
Wrong.... in capitalism unbridled, everyone and everything is expendable as long as you make your buck. Cutthroat competition and winning the $'s game at all costs is true capitalism. We are NOT a capitalist country - despite what you believe. If we were, there would be no middle class. Oh, wait - the middle class IS disappearing, so we are becoming more capitalist by the minute - and you all will be getting paid minimum wage, if you can find a job, while the 1% gather 99%of the wealth. That's where we're headed people, unless you all wake up and stop believing Rush Loudmouth and the like.
AhiaGuy| 11.22.11 @ 7:21PM
Fascinating that people like you can ignore reality for your Socialist utopian vision.
Apparently you would rather live in Cuba or East Germany or one of the many other people's republics where there is NO real middle class than in America where even the officially government-certified "poor" have cars, microwaves, color TVs and cell phones.
And oh by the way, most of that 1% started out poor or middle class and WORKED their way to wealth like Bill Gates, Rush Limbaugh and Steve Jobs. Only your idols like John Kerry, Jay Roosevelt and Ted Kennedy had their riches fall into their laps.
Dick Nome| 11.22.11 @ 7:39PM
He's a Marxist. What would you expect. BTW, Socialized Medicide kills. That Obamacare is.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:49PM
And, Medicare saves lives ... a socialized medicine program ... so choke on that.
emo| 11.23.11 @ 10:22AM
One reason Medicare works is that 100% of the working population pays in and 15% take out. Even then it is still going bankrupt.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:52PM
Nah, Cuba or E.Germany have nothing to do with this debate... that's just a rightie's bogeymen. So, you probably agree with Newt Gingrich that we should repeal child labor laws and let the children do the janitorial work in their schools, right? You forgot to mention the Republican Presidential Candidates which hold at least 3 and maybe more members of the 1%. You think they plan on turning on their own? Really?
emo| 11.23.11 @ 10:23AM
The entire Dem Congressional Caucus is in the top 1%
StanO| 11.25.11 @ 6:04PM
A Capitalist CANNOT be "greedy", he is a slave of the market. The market will not tolerate a fake market long. Employees not getting paid enough . . . they will quit. It may take a couple of years, but it won't work. Selling a bad drug? The market will crush you! Sue you. Ruin all your good products. Cars, Hotels, phones whatever, the market prevails.
You must provide something, quality, price, uniqueness, something that someone wants. Selling crap will work for exactly one day.
Socialism demands an uneven exchange of goods or services. Is that not the definition of greed? Wanting something for nothing?
Riff Raff| 11.22.11 @ 7:22PM
Unbridled Socialism murders tens of millions of people.
Purpleguy| 11.22.11 @ 11:53PM
Where?
AhiaGuy| 11.23.11 @ 9:03AM
Like I said, ignoring reality in favor of utopian myths.
Look these up: the Jews under Nazi Germany (Nazi=National SOCIALIST) , Ukrainians under the USSR (Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics) Cambodians under Democratic Kampuchea of the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians), for starters.
Riff Raff| 11.24.11 @ 1:11AM
Purpleguy, you truly are stupid. Do you really not know where? Chairman Mao alone was responsible for the deaths of about 50 million Chinese people. What bridle restrained Mao? Or do you believe Mao was not a Socialist?
I think it's time we started ignoring Purpleguy. He is just too stupid to justify a response.
StanO| 11.25.11 @ 6:06PM
Search for list of massacres, they are all governments killing people, not corporations. A few were based on greed, but they are overwhelmingly killing for ideology and to protect government or governmental power.
Gordon| 11.22.11 @ 4:41PM
Great article and even better comments. I truly enjoyed the wisdom from each.
Naturalborn Texicabette| 11.22.11 @ 5:51PM
I agree with Bill about Perry. Well said, Bill!!!!!!
We've got "slick" right now.
We've got "clueless" right now.
We've got "incompetent" right now.
We've got "duhhhhhh" right now.
We've got "show me the money so I can spend it all" right now.
Perry's momentary lapse is miniscule compared to Obama's utter failure as a president.
Perry supports the United States of America with every fiber in his being. He is committed to America, and the people of America. He knows how to keep us safe from those who want to destroy us. He can actually create a budget and stick to it!!! He has been in harm's way and served honorably, both overseas and at the border. He supports quality education for our children, and sensible, effective, and affordable health care for all.
I could go on and on, but you get it.
Perry has extensive experience in government and has been hugely effective across the board. Please don't let the "got'chas" be the only consideration in your choice for our future president.
This election is way too important to the future of America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rowdy Boot| 11.22.11 @ 9:11PM
Remember,
They called Ronald Reagan "stupid" for years.
That is how the left views people who are above their ability to comprehend.
Yep.
D Roamer | 11.23.11 @ 12:14AM
Governor Perry, a three time governor of a huge state, where many have found jobs, and more jobs when the drilling and pipelines- our whole oil industry is not only fuel but for thousands of other products. Finally, he signed the tort reform bill; this will be a major reduction in health care insurance for patients and especially physicians.
It will be a hard slog to get tort reform for our nation, where the major portion of our lawmakers are lawyers. Nothing against lawyers, you want them in your corner when trouble hits. Lawyers, are like unions, I guess in their trade, it would be guilds.
Just a thought.
Rowdy Boot| 11.22.11 @ 9:07PM
No, Obama will not "...quietly return to private life...".
What is more likely is a Race War which he will engender when he gets kicked out of office.
If you think we have a class war problem, think again...there will be no reason other than Racism the Left, the Marxists, The Anarchists and all the other FREELOADERS will admit to.
MARK MY WORDS.
POST American| 11.22.11 @ 9:53PM
---------------------FINAL WORD-----------------------
Coolidge, taking power after ANTI-bankster,
ANTI-Globalist Warren Harding's sudden,
and, to this day, 'mysterious' death.
---------TRUE and NOW
---------------HUAC/ Nuremberg 2012----------------
-----------------------------is COMING TRUE
Dollar380| 11.22.11 @ 10:48PM
When you consider the thousands of Left wing drones that leave our "higher institutions of learning" each year the chances of having fiscal sanity returned to government are practically nil. Not wanting to grow up and take responsibilty has become a hallmark of our culture. This OWS crap and the media support of it are proof positive. Sorry to be negative, but I have a bad feeling about the future.
Richard Baker| 11.23.11 @ 1:43AM
Purpleguy:
Let's see. The starvation of about 30 million in Ukraine by Stalin against the kulaks, Pol Pot in Cambodia, the millions by Mao and his buddies, Cuba under Castro, those killed at the hands of Felix Dzerzhinsky with the help of the Cheka under Lenin (you have heard of the Lubyanka, haven't you?), Hitler and the Nazis in Germany, and many, many others. That's who died under "unbridled socialism" from just 1917 on. Of course, they were nobodies, right? Hope this answers your question.
Richard Baker| 11.23.11 @ 1:48AM
Purpleguy:
Medicare and Medicaid are stone broke. Socialized anything is a flop wherever it's been tried. Glad you think that socialized medicine is so wonderful. I also suppose you think the National Health in England is soo terrific, too. Do us all a favor. Tell us where socialism is doing a bang-up job in anything.
Hankmeister| 11.23.11 @ 7:14AM
Purpleguy is your typical brain-dead troll who probably still lives in his mommy's basement ... if she didn't slit her wrist first for raising such a moron.
More seriously, the worst racism in America is that which is either unconsciously or strategically practiced by the left -- a patronizing, paternalistic racism that has left the American black family in shreds and that has put many of them on a perpetual white liberal plantation.
The Democratic Party in America has always been the party of slavery and plantations and that tradition continues to this day with the entitlement/welfare plantation the liberals have created for the black man and other aggrieved minorities. And when a black man like Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Herman Cain, and Walter Williams make it on their own and reject liberals' warped worldview, they're villified as "Uncle Toms". The liberal is completely willing to befriend a black man just so long he knows his place and votes Democrat - otherwise the black man will be ostracized and villified and have his own brothers turned against him by white liberals' perpetual race hustling.
And isn't that the real problem with liberalism the sense of entitlement they create in people whom they are courting for their political support and vote? This is the same entitlement mentality that demands unborn babies give up their lives or other people must give up their wealth "to be fair" or the American taxpayer owes them a life despite being little more than lazy-ass parasites who are card carrying members of the Cult of Perpetual Grievances? I'm also sickened by how liberals typically define their compassion by how much they can empower to levy more confiscatory taxes in order to grow the entitlement State.
Liberals will continue playing their race card and stirring up the cauldron of racial hatreds for generations to come because they know this kind of reckless fingerpointing ultimately benefits the Demoncrat Party and it's dream of a socialist utopia. The left won't be content until everyone is living in that nightmare "utopia".
Oh, BTW, the Nazis were never "right-wing". They were explicitly left-wing collectivists and national socialists who believed in government from the top down and highly regulating a nation's industrial capacity despite corporations being privately owned. Even conservatives have fallen prey to seventy years of left-wing whackademia that still refuses to see the conflict between Soviet socialism and Nazi socialism as a classic case of international fratricide. And the stupid "argument" that because the Nazis were racists that made them "right-wing" is sheer bunk simply because a majority of liberals themselves engage in a paternalistic racism which suggests black Americas are far too stupid and don't have the necessary genes to make it without the aid of pandering white liberals. And liberals are often closet Jew-haters. Just look at all the Occupy Wall Street rants about "Jew banksters" and "Jews running the world" ad nauseam. The mask has certainly slipped with these lunatic left-wingers. The big government Nazis have FAR more in common with an American big government liberal than they do with mainstream American conservatives who believe in the constitutional limitations that exist within a constitutional republic vis a vis Section 1 Article 8 and the 9th and 10th Amendments.
Ground Control| 11.23.11 @ 12:30PM
Purpleguy is like the "Black Knight" from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." No matter how much he loses, he keeps coming back for more.
Richard Hilger| 11.23.11 @ 9:59AM
Calvin Coolidge was one of the greatest of the American presidents. He has gained a reputation, fostered by uninformed pundits, that he was do-nothing, dim-witted executive by default (Harding's sudden death.) Nothing could be further from the truth. I have said often in the past year (and in September while visiting his grave in Vermont) that we would be blessed to have such a man in the White House now. What a contrast to the inept disaster we are struggling with currently. I would urge people to read one of the Coolidge bios to understand this complex and remarkable American. My favorite is "Coolidge" by Robert Sobel: very readable and well-written.
Richard Baker| 11.24.11 @ 9:47AM
Remember, when Reagan fired the PATCO air traffic controllers in 1981 he had Coolidge's actions during the Boston Police Strike of 1919 in mind. Don't mess with Old Cal.