Calvin Coolidge has been the butt of jokes for decades, mostly from Democrats and entertainers. Dorothy Parker, the quintessential Northeast liberal literary snob, famously cracked when she heard that Coolidge had died, “How can they tell?” But Coolidge did her one better some time earlier when he was seated at a table with Parker. She said she’d bet her friends she would get the taciturn Coolidge to say more than two words. “You lose,” Coolidge responded.
Known for saying little and taking a hands-off approach to government intervention into areas it should not intervene, Coolidge is the natural enemy of nanny-state liberals, which is probably why he’s so de-emphasized in history books. But Jonah Goldberg posted on NRO’s Corner yesterday a link to a magnificent speech Coolidge gave on July 5, 1926. Here’s my favorite part (my emphasis added):
About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.
Coolidge had big-state liberals pegged even then. His comments seem to anticipate the country-destroying policies of the Obama administration and its henchmen in appointed office.
