"...Have
faith in Massachusetts. In some unimportant detail some other States
may surpass her, but in the general results, there is no place on earth
where the people secure, in a larger measure, the blessings of organized
government, and nowhere can those functions more properly be termed
self government. Do the day's work. If it be to protect the rights of
the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it be to help a powerful
corporation better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do
that. Expect to be called a stand patter, but don't be a stand patter.
Expect to be called a demagogue, but don't be a demagogue. Don't
hesitate to be as revolutionary as science. Don't hesitate to be as
reactionary as the multiplication table. Don't expect to build up the
weak by pulling down the strong. Don't hurry to legislate. Give
administration a chance to catch up with legislation. 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."
~ Calvin Coolidge, Have Faith in Massachusetts, 1/7/1914
