Calvin Coolidge Comments: "the chief business of the American people is business."

"...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. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these are the moving impulses of our life." But "it is only those who do not understand our people, who believe that our national life is entirely absorbed by material motives. We make no concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things that we want much more. We want peace and honor, and that charity which is so strong an element of all civilization. The chief ideal of the American people is idealism." - Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On why power should be concentrated as much as possible within the several States rather than the Federal Government.

• Without doubt, the reason for increasing demands on the Federal Government is that the States have not discharged their full duties.
• So demand has grown up for a greater concentration of powers in the Federal Government. If we will fairly consider it, we must conclude that the remedy would be worse than the disease. What we need is not more Federal government, but better local government. 
• From every position of consistency with our system, more centralization ought to be avoided.
• Once the evasion of local responsibilities becomes a habit, there is no knowing how far the consequences may reach. Every step in such a progression will be unfortunate alike for States and Nation.
• Whenever by...plan we take from one group of States and give it to another group, there is grave danger that we do economic injustice on one side and political injury on the other. We impose unfairly on the strength of the strong, and we indulge the weak to indulge their weaknesses.

From "Foundations of the Republic" by Calvin Coolidge
Quotation marks have been omitted due to its length.

To summarize Coolidge's comments in my own words, what I believe Coolidge is saying is that we have to guard against allowing the Federal Government to be used as a slush fund penalizing the strong to the benefit of the weak and allowing the weak to indulge their weaknesses. 

At this time of economic and financial adversity, I think it is well past the time to eliminate the overly intrusive and controlling Federal Department of Education. We should rely on the states, state boards of education and the cities and towns to educate our children and young adults.While we are making these constructive changes, we should eliminate the Department of Energy as well. This will allow the Federal Government to allocate more money toward paying out Social Security checks and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

A fitting Calvin Coolidge quote on this Memorial Day Weekend. From "Freedom and its Obligations." At Arlington National Cemetery, May 30, 1924

"American citizenship is a high estate.  He who holds it is the peer of kings.  It has been secured only by untold toil and effort.  It will be maintained by no other method.  It demands the best that men and women have to give.  But it likewise awards to its partakers the best that there is on earth.  To attempt to turn it into a thing of ease and inaction would be only to debase it.  To cease to struggle and toil and sacrifice for it is not only to cease to be worthy of it but is to start a retreat toward barbarism.  No matter what others may say, no matter what others may do, this is the stand that those must maintain who are worthy to be called Americans."  Freedom and its Obligations. At Arlington National Cemetery, May 30, 1924"

An Open Letter to President Obama on Illegal Immigration

President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington, DC 20500

Your speech in El Paso was a great disappointment. Instead of pandering to a block of marginal voters, you should be concentrating on putting unemployed Americans back to work!

The following section of your El Paso speech really floored me:

"You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they're going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they'll want a higher fence. Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they want alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied."

You seem to think that securing the border is just a game. A game you can win using cute rhetoric and political posturing. Let me tell you, border security is not a game and that those who support securing our border are not racists or xenophobes (as your supporters shouted out). This is a serious issue and lives are lost because politicians like you fail to take it seriously.

El Paso, where you gave your speech, is across the Rio Grande from the most dangerous city in the world -- Ciudad Juarez. Are you telling me that El Paso is as safe as it can be? Are you telling me that the miles of unprotected borderlands in New Mexico and Arizona are as safe as they can be? Are you telling me that the border sands of California cannot be crossed illegally? We both know our border is not as secure as it can and should be and Americans are dying because of it.

I hope you will get of your political high horse and have an honest and realistic conversation with Members of Congress and urge them to pass legislation that truly secures our borders and puts Americans back to work.

Please take to heart the following words from Calvin Coolidge, spoken when he was President of the Massachusetts State Senate and later on when he was President of the United States:

"While our country numbers among its best citizens many of those of foreign birth, yet those who now enter in violation of our laws by that very act thereby place themselves in a class of undesirables. Investigation reveals that any considerable number are coming here in defiance of our immigration restrictions, it will undoubtedly create the necessity for the registration of all aliens. We ought to have no prejudice against an alien because he is an alien. The standard which we apply to our inhabitants is that of manhood, not place of birth. Restrictive immigration is to a large degree for economic purposes. It is applied in order that we may not have a larger annual increment of good people within our borders than we can weave into our economic fabric in such a way as to supply their needs without undue injury to ourselves."

"We need a broader, firmer, deeper faith in the people; A faith that men desire to do right, that the Commonwealth is founded upon a righteousness which will endure, a reconstructed faith that the final approval of the people is given not to demagogues, slavishly pandering to their selfishness, merchandising with the clamor of the hour, but to statesmen, ministering to their welfare, representing their deep, silent, abiding convictions."

"Our country has one cardinal principle to maintain in its foreign policy. It is an American principle. It must be an American policy. We attend to our own affairs, conserve our own strength, and protect the interests of our own citizens; but we recognize thoroughly our obligation to help others, reserving to the decision of our own Judgment the time, the place, and the method. We realize the common bond of humanity. We know the inescapable law of service."

Sincerely,



J. Bruce Gabriel


Credit for many of the ideas expressed in this letter is given to NUMBERS USA, a non-partisan group committed to stopping illegal immigration and reducing immigration levels in general. President Coolidge's quotes were taken from his cornerstone speech, "Have Faith in Massachusetts" and from several of his annual presidential messages.  

Calvin Coolidge Comments- "Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody."- From Fourth Annual Message of December 7, 1926.

"Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody. But the results of extravagance are ruinous. The property of the country, like the freedom of the country, belongs to the people of the country. They have not empowered their Government to take a dollar of it except for a necessary public purpose. But if the Constitution conferred such right, sound economics would forbid it. Nothing is more destructive of the progress of the Nation than government extravagance. It means an increase in the burden of taxation, dissipation of the returns from enterprise, a decrease in the real value of wages, with ultimate stagnation and decay. The whole theory of our institutions is based on the liberty and independence of the individual. He is dependent on himself for support and therefore entitled to the rewards of his own industry. He is not to be deprived of what he earns that others may be benefited by what they do not earn. What he saves through his private effort is not to be wasted by Government extravagance."

Excerpts from "Have Faith in Massachusetts," a speech by Calvin Coolidge, to the State Senate, upon being elected its President- January 7, 1914.

On January 7, 1914 Calvin Coolidge who had been newly elected to the position of President of the Massachusetts State Senate gave this speech- "Have Faith in Massachusetts." I think it is a wonderful speech which our citizens need to hear at this time of economic turmoil. Then Senate President Coolidge addresses numerous philosophical and ethical issues of the time, and which also pertain to our current lapses of ethics on Wall Street and in the Halls of Congress. Mr. Coolidge notes in his speech: "Industry cannot flourish if labor languish. Transportation cannot prosper if manufactures decline." Our current President needs to address the "manufactures" issue that President Coolidge so perceptively referred to. We need the changes made, which will allow America to manufacture again. My personal thesis is that we must require the Chinese government to float its RMB and we must insist that the Chinese also implement a "safety net" for their labor force. A 35% tax on Chinese goods would help as well.

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "We need a broader, firmer, deeper faith in the people; A faith that men desire to do right, that the Commonwealth is founded upon a righteousness which will endure."

http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/_have_faith_in_massachusetts__.html

Calvin Coolidge Comments- "The best that is in man is not bought with a price." Excerpts from Governor Coolidge's Address to the Massachusetts General Court- Jan 8, 1920

"We need to change our standards; not of property but of thought. We need to stop trying to be better than some one else, and start doing something for some one else. If we put all the emphasis on our material prosperity, that prosperity will perish, and with it will perish our civilization. The best that is in man is not bought with a price. To offer money only is to appeal to his weakness not his strength. Man is more than of the earth. He will not find his satisfaction in things that are of the earth earthy. Employer and employed must find their satisfaction not in a money return, but in a service rendered; not in the quantity of goods, but the quality of character. Industry must be humanized not destroyed. It must be the instrument not of selfishness but of service. Change not the law but the attitude of the mind. Let our citizens look not to false prophets but to the Pilgrims; let them fix their eyes on Plymouth Rock as well as Beacon Hill. The supreme choice must be not the things that are seen but the things that are unseen."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "Our country has one cardinal principle to maintain in its foreign policy. It is an American principle. It must be an American policy."- From First Annual Message of December 6, 1923.

"Our country has one cardinal principle to maintain in its foreign policy. It is an American principle. It must be an American policy. We attend to our own affairs, conserve our own strength, and protect the interests of our own citizens; but we recognize thoroughly our obligation to help others, reserving to the decision of our own Judgment the time, the place, and the method. We realize the common bond of humanity. We know the inescapable law of service."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "Society is in much more danger from encumbering the National Government beyond its wisdom to comprehend,.."- From Third Annual Message of December 8, 1925.

"Society is in much more danger from encumbering the National Government beyond its wisdom to comprehend, or its ability to administer, than from leaving the local communities to bear their own burdens and remedy their own evils. Our local habit and custom is so strong, our variety of race and creed is so great the Federal authority is so tenuous, that the area within which it can function successfully is very limited. The wiser policy is to leave the localities, so far as we can, possessed of their own sources of revenue and charged with their own obligations."

Calvin Coolidge Comments on the Effects of Reducing and Eliminating Taxes- From Sixth Annual Message- December 4, 1928:

"Four times we have made a drastic revision of our internal revenue system, abolishing many taxes and substantially reducing almost all others. Each time the resulting stimulation to business has so increased taxable incomes and profits that a surplus has been produced. One-third of the national debt has been paid, while much of the other two-thirds has been refunded at lower rates, and these savings of interest and constant economies have enabled us to repeat the satisfying process of more tax reductions. Under this sound and healthful encouragement the national income has increased nearly 50 per cent, until it is estimated to stand well over $90,000,000,000. It has been a method which has performed the shining miracle of leaving a much greater percentage of earnings in the hands of the taxpayers 'with scarcely any diminution of the Government revenue. That is constructive economy in the highest degree. It is the corner stone of prosperity. It should not fail to be continued."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "The actions of the Government must command the confidence of the country."- From Sixth Annual Message of December 4, 1928

"The actions of the Government must command the confidence of the country. Without this, our prosperity would be lost. We must extend to other countries the largest measure of generosity, moderation, and patience. In addition to dealing justly, we can well afford to walk humbly.

The end of government is to keep open the opportunity for a more abundant life. Peace and prosperity are not finalities; they are only methods. It is too easy under their influence for a nation to become selfish and degenerate. This test has come to the United States. Our country has been provided with the resources with which it can enlarge its intellectual, moral, and spiritual life. The issue is in the hands of the people. Our faith in man and God is the justification for the belief in our continuing success."

Calvin Coolidge Comments- "Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody."- From Fourth Annual Message of December 7, 1926

"Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody. But the results of extravagance are ruinous. The property of the country, like the freedom of the country, belongs to the people of the country. They have not empowered their Government to take a dollar of it except for a necessary public purpose. But if the Constitution conferred such right, sound economics would forbid it. Nothing is more destructive of the progress of the Nation than government extravagance. It means an increase in the burden of taxation, dissipation of the returns from enterprise, a decrease in the real value of wages, with ultimate stagnation and decay. The whole theory of our institutions is based on the liberty and independence of the individual. He is dependent on himself for support and therefore entitled to the rewards of his own industry. He is not to be deprived of what he earns that others may be benefited by what they do not earn. What he saves through his private effort is not to be wasted by Government extravagance."

Calvin Coolidge Comments- "The people cannot look to legislation generally for success. Industry, thrift, character, are not conferred by act or resolve. Government cannot relieve from toil. It can provide no substitute for the rewards of service."

"The people cannot look to legislation generally for success. Industry, thrift, character, are not conferred by act or resolve. Government cannot relieve from toil. It can provide no substitute for the rewards of service. It can, of course, care for the defective and recognize distinguished merit. The normal must care for themselves. Self government means self support.

Man is born into the universe with a personality that is his own. He has a right that is founded upon the constitution of the universe to have property that is his own. Ultimately, property rights and personal rights are the same thing. The one cannot be preserved if the other be violated. Each man is entitled to his rights and the rewards of his service be they never so large or never so small."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On Protective Tariffs and the Wage Earner- From Second Annual Message of December 3, 1924

 "Two very important policies have been adopted by this country which, while extending their benefits also in other directions, have been of the utmost importance to the wage earners. One of these is the protective tariff, which enables our people to live according to a better standard and receive a better rate of compensation than any people, any time, anywhere on earth, ever enjoyed. This saves the American market for the products of the American workmen. The other is a policy of more recent origin and seeks to shield our wage earners from the disastrous competition of a great influx of foreign peoples. This has been done by the restrictive immigration law. This saves the American job for the American workmen. I should like to see the administrative features of this law rendered a little more humane for the purpose of permitting those already here a greater latitude in securing admission of members of their own families. But I believe this law in principle is necessary and sound, and destined to increase greatly the public welfare. We must maintain our own economic position, we must defend our own national integrity.
 
It is gratifying to report that the progress of industry, the enormous increase in individual productivity through labor-saving devices, and the high rate of wages have all combined to furnish our people in general with such an abundance not only of the necessaries but of the conveniences of life that we are by a natural evolution solving our problems of economic and social justice."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: On Immigration- Presidential Message of December 6, 1923

"American institutions rest solely on good citizenship. They were created by people who had a background of self-government. New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American. For this  purpose, it is necessary to continue a policy of restricted immigration. It would be well to make such immigration of a selective nature with some inspection at the source, and based either on a prior census or upon the record of naturalization. Either method would insure the admission of those with the largest capacity and best intention of becoming citizens. I am convinced that our present economic and social conditions warrant a limitation of those to be admitted. We should find additional safety in a law requiring the immediate registration of all aliens. Those' who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America."

Calvin Coolidge Comments- "Employer and employed must find satisfaction not in a money return but in a service rendered...."

"Employer and employed must find satisfaction not in a money return but in a service rendered not in the quantity of goods, but the quality of character." Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant."- From President Coolidge's inaugural address, March 4, 1925.

"When we turn from what was rejected to inquire what was accepted, the policy that stands out with the greatest clearness is that of economy in public expenditure with reduction and reform of taxation. The principle involved in this effort is that of conservation. The resources of this country are almost beyond computation. No mind can comprehend them. But the cost of our combined governments is likewise almost beyond definition. Not only those who are now making their tax returns, but those who meet the enhanced cost of existence in their monthly bills, know by hard experience what this great burden is and what it does. No matter what others may want, these people want a drastic economy. They are opposed to waste. They know that extravagance lengthens the hours and diminishes the rewards of their labor. I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.	14
If extravagance were not reflected in taxation, and through taxation both directly and indirectly injuriously affecting the people, it would not be of so much consequence. The wisest and soundest method of solving our tax problem is through economy. Fortunately, of all the great nations this country is best in a position to adopt that simple remedy. We do not any longer need wartime revenues. The collection of any taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. Under this republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them. The only constitutional tax is the tax which ministers to public necessity. The property of the country belongs to the people of the country. Their title is absolute. They do not support any privileged class; they do not need to maintain great military forces; they ought not to be burdened with a great array of public employees. They are not required to make any contribution to Government expenditures except that which they voluntarily assess upon themselves through the action of their own representatives. Whenever taxes become burdensome a remedy can be applied by the people; but if they do not act for themselves, no one can be very successful in acting for them.	15
The time is arriving when we can have further tax reduction, when, unless we wish to hamper the people in their right to earn a living, we must have tax reform. The method of raising revenue ought not to impede the transaction of business; it ought to encourage it. I am opposed to extremely high rates, because they produce little or no revenue, because they are bad for the country, and, finally, because they are wrong. We can not finance the country, we can not improve social conditions, through any system of injustice, even if we attempt to inflict it upon the rich. Those who suffer the most harm will be the poor. This country believes in prosperity. It is absurd to suppose that it is envious of those who are already prosperous. The wise and correct course to follow in taxation and all other economic legislation is not to destroy those who have already secured success but to create conditions under which every one will have a better chance to be successful. The verdict of the country has been given on this question. That verdict stands. We shall do well to heed it.	16
These questions involve moral issues. We need not concern ourselves much about the rights of property if we will faithfully observe the rights of persons. Under our institutions their rights are supreme. It is not property but the right to hold property, both great and small, which our Constitution guarantees. All owners of property are charged with a service. These rights and duties have been revealed, through the conscience of society, to have a divine sanction. The very stability of our society rests upon production and conservation. For individuals or for governments to waste and squander their resources is to deny these rights and disregard these obligations. The result of economic dissipation to a nation is always moral decay.	17
These policies of better international understandings, greater economy, and lower taxes have contributed largely to peaceful and prosperous industrial relations. Under the helpful influences of restrictive immigration and a protective tariff, employment is plentiful, the rate of pay is high, and wage earners are in a state of contentment seldom before seen. Our transportation systems have been gradually recovering and have been able to meet all the requirements of the service. Agriculture has been very slow in reviving, but the price of cereals at last indicates that the day of its deliverance is at hand."

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but spiritual conceptions."

"The foundation of our independence and our government rests upon our basic religious convictions." -- Calvin Coolidge  

 

"In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man—these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power 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 and 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 cannot lay claim to progress." -- Calvin Coolidge 
                                                                                                    

"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." -- Calvin Coolidge