Posted on 10/04/2007 4:29:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
WOODSTOCK, VT. — The Wall Street Journal, no left wing publication, reports that Republicans may soon lose the votes of some economic conservatives. In part, it’s because of the unending war in Iraq and social policies they don’t like, but they might swallow hard and continue to vote Republican anyway if GOP fiscal policies did not mimic the Democrats when it comes to the deficit and spending.
Maybe what the GOP needs is a fall foliage trip to Vermont where there is an oasis in a desert of fossilized ‘60s liberalism. You might not think so at first glance because here, someone seems to have pushed the “pause” button on the Age of Aquarius.
A trip to local bookstores is like visiting Democratic National Committee headquarters. No, that’s not quite accurate. It’s more like visiting MoveOn.org headquarters. Buttons that say “Impeach Cheney First” compete with bumper stickers with messages like “Freedom of Religion Means Freedom FROM Religion” and “Never Have Sex with a Pro-Lifer.”
The most conservative book I could find was one by Jimmy Carter. There are “EmbarrassMints” with a picture of President Bush on the lid of the confection tin. I bought an Elvis Impersonation Kit just for fun. You get the idea.
President Bush has avoided Vermont during his presidency, but he might want to consider leading a pilgrimage of Republican candidates back to a little hamlet just down the road, which produced a Republican president with ideas his party desperately needs.
That hamlet is Plymouth Notch and that president was Calvin Coolidge. Today’s Republicans seem to have an identity crisis. Their focus groups and pollsters have been unable to tell them what they believe. Sen. John McCain is an Episcopalian who wants to become a Baptist, but won’t “convert” until after the election, lest it seem like opportunism. Rudy Giuliani is pro-choice, but promises to name judges who interpret the Constitution as written and doesn’t care if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Fred Thompson believes the opposite of what he said he believed a very short time ago. Ditto Mitt Romney. Those GOP candidates who have been consistent in their convictions — like former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Sen. Sam Brownback and even Rep. Ron Paul — are back in the pack. Does that say more about us than it does them?
The president ought to visit Vermont and Coolidge’s birth and burial place. It looks pretty much the way it did when Coolidge lived there and visited as president. The state and private contributors (including me as I serve in an unpaid advisory capacity) have kept it that way.
Coolidge has received a bad rap from historians like Arthur Schlesinger Jr., comedian Will Rogers and the columnist H.L. Mencken. But his wisdom survives precisely because it transcends generations. At a time when people are busy looking for “new” ideas, Coolidge — whom historian Paul Johnson has called the last president of the 19th century — speaks immutable truths.
On taxes, how could any modern Republican improve on this pearl from Coolidge: “Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.”
In a rebuke to the “progressives” who engage in class envy and class warfare, while seeking to redistribute other people’s wealth, Coolidge instructs: “Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.”
There’s something for the “law and order” crowd that might reduce the prison population and improve neighborhood safety: “I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis upon the observance of the law than they do upon its enforcement.”
One of my personal favorites is: “Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.” Ah, character. It was taught in Coolidge’s era. It has been largely abandoned in ours.
Maybe that’s why Coolidge warned in his July 5, 1926 speech on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence about the consequences of forgetting things that matter most: “we cannot continue to enjoy the result, if we neglect and abandon the cause.”
Yes, President Bush should lead his fellow Republicans to Vermont to study the thoughts and principles of Calvin Coolidge, though they might wish to stay out of the bookstores.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I liked yesterday’s article on Vermont better. You know the one about them wanting to secede from the United States.
To them I’d say, “don’t let the door hit you in the a$$”.
Worse... full-blown, moonbat liberal.
Vermont is pretty much hopeless. Even Giuliani doesn’t expect to take Vermont. This is the state that elected Bernie Sanders to the Senate, afterall. And the state where the judges give probation to child molesters.
The difference between the age of Coolidge and our present age is only incidentally a difference in character. The earlier age was still republican, but ours is imperial.
Coolidge was much like Cato or Cicero, a republican in a true sense, always careful to avoid the trappings of imperial rule; like it or not, GWB more closely resembles a Vespasian or a Titus. His intent may be good (or shall we say, “noble”), but the people demand an Imperator, and he can only work within the confines of his role.
Good article, Cal.
He’s right about character not being taught. I have a 19th century book about character on my shelf, and it’s filled with uplifting stories about people with good character throughout history.
Such a book would be alien and incomprehensible in some segments of today’s society.
I’m a Republican. I used to visit Vermont quite frequently, but the last time I was there about 10 years ago, I could not help but sense that it had changed. It really feels like a foreign country now. Haven’t been back since, and don’t plan to be anytime soon.
Fred Thompson is no flip-flopper.
A total lie.
All is not lost in Vermont...read on a Vt. bumper sticker-”abortion, the ultimate child abuse”, and on the back of a Catholic church weekly bulletin, “abortion-America’s terrorism against the unborn, pray for the overturn of Rove v Wade”. The northeast kingdom portion of Vt. seems to be the most conservative.
The title shouldn’t read “Republicans Should Visit Vermont”
It should read”Republicans Should Visit Vommit”
And there is some dispute about whether the legendary "Green Mountain Boys" of American Revolution fame were even supporters of the colonial cause against the British. The "Boys" were originally formed as a quasi-independent militia in the region between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut back in the 1750s -- primarily to enforce the legitimacy of New Hampshire land titles against competing claims by title holders from New York.
For all of its radical leftism, the state still has a serious libertarian streak that is honestly quite refreshing in the Northeast. There are probably more gun owners per capita in Vermont than almost anywhere else in the U.S., and the pro-gun track record of that crazed leftist himself (Howard Dean) never got much attention during his short-lived presidential campaign in 2004.
Consider the phrase “purge Vermont. It has a savory ring to it.
Vermont is a lost cause to the Republican party.
Between the left over hippies who settled there and the imported socialists from NY and Mass, there’s no hope of switching it back to the Republicans any time soon.
As to gun rights, Bernie Sanders saw that his socialist agenda would never be swallowed by the original Vermonters if he ever proposed changing the gun laws. He wisely supported Vermont’s liberal gun rights and the native Vermonters swallowed his promises of free money from Washington. (never mind that he’s been singing that tune for years and has yet to deliver anything to Vermont).
Office holders in Vermont have a history of job security and seem able to keep their elected positions as long as they want them. Challengers are rarely successful.
What may be interesting is how Vermonters will react if Hillary Clinton is elected President next year with a Congress with a larger Democratic majority and she pursues an essentially socialist European agenda combined with corporate welfare of the type her husband dealt in. There is something of a left-libertarian streak among the transplants that may be as unhappy with her policies as economic and limited government conservatives were with Bush's so-called compassionate (big government) conservatism.
But then, so is Zimbabwe.
Visit Vermont, see the 60s hippies in the full regalia.
If you look at a breakdown of their state legislatures, MA is far more liberal than Vermont,
MA--House: 141 Dems/19 Reps; Senate: 35 Dems/5 Reps
VT--House: 93 Dems/49 Reps/8(I); Senate: 23 Dems/7 Reps
I was there back in the late 1970s. You could see then what was happening, the poor agricultural locals were being bought out by the trust fund NYer kids. The locals and the NYers did not get along nor share any similar values. It was woodchucks versus pampered suburban tots seeking a real back to the earth experience. Too bad, the fishing was somewhat good. Haven’t been back since, nor do I intend to return. I go to upstate NY every summer to sample yankee socialism. It has totally debilatated upstate - what a basket case.
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