CALVIN-ISM FOR THE MODERN AGE

There has been a lot of talk over the past year that what the country really needs is another Ronald Reagan.  I was still a kid when the Gipper was president, but my memories of that time, particularly when put in the persepective of the deprivations of the Carter years, was of a prosperous time where it was still a great thing to be American.  There are many people, particularly in the Tea Party, who would like to see a return to those times.  But I have another role model that we might want to keep an eye out for.  This man has been relatively overlooked by history, which is a shame. 

Particularly after the excesses of the past two years under Obama and the past four years with the purse strings controlled by Pelosi, we are in need of a modern-day Calvin Coolidge.  Yes, that's right.  Coolidge.  "Silent Cal" is a Tea Partier's dream candidate, and he would be willing to take the sometimes unpopular steps to bring us back from the brink that we are teetering on.  Much like the religious reforms of calvinism were a revolutionary movement back in the 1600's, we need our own fiscally conservative, small business Calvin-istic revolution today. 

Coolidge is really the anti-Obama.  Everything that Obama is and stands for, Coolidge is the polar opposite.  Obama has rockstar status, relying heavily on his personal charm and preaching from the pulpit style to woo the electorate.  He is professorial, arrogant and cool in demeanor.  He passes the buck and is quick to point the finger of blame, and his opinion of taxation is that it is the American people's patriotic duty to pay up, and that he and his cronies can spend our money better than we can. 

Coolidge, on the other hand, was a humble, quiet, retiring everyman who was not prone to being wordy - the closest to cool he ever came was the 'cool' in his name.  His speeches were effective, skillfully delivered, and numerous, but not very memorable.  The buck stopped with him, and instead of wasting time placing blame, he spent his time trying to fix the problem.  His opinions on taxation were as revolutionary in that era of progressivism as they would be in this age of progressivism.  He felt that it was the duty of the government to keep spending to a minimum so that the American taxpayer could see more of their money in their own pockets.  His view of government was to keep it as minimally invasive as possible, whereas Obama thinks government is the answer for everything.  How successful were his policies?  Well, the Roaring Twenties were under his watch, if that is any indication.

We are in desperate need of austerity, but more importantly, we are in desperate need of politiicans who are willing to risk broad popularity in order to do what is necessary to save this country from the fiscal disaster that is looming just over the horizon.  The days of kicking the can down the road are gone.  The time for action is now, and Silent Cal might just hold the solution, if our politicians are willing.  For those who question the wisdom of looking for another Calvin Coolidge, I will leave you with this clip, via the Cato Institute:



In closing, here is a gem of a quote from Silent Cal that our current president should really take to heart:

"The words of a President have an enormous weight," he would later write, "and ought not to be used indiscriminately."