We Could Use a Man like Calvin Coolidge Again

American Thinker ^ | 10 Mar, 2024 | Clarice Feldman

[MtnClimber]

If Javier Milei can pull Argentina out of the red, we can do it here.

A day after his pumped-up divisive State of the Union address, unsurprisingly headlined “fiery” by the copycat media lackeys, President Biden speaking in Pennsylvania reverted to his old befuddled self.

"Pennsylvania, I have a message for you: send me to Congress!"

"Last night [at] the U.S. Capitol -- the same building where our freedoms came under assault on July the 6th!"

"We added more to the national debt than any president in his term in all of history!"

Well, the last statement is true. I’ll give him that. And large budget deficits is a pattern in Democrat-run cities and states. Democrats pay off cronies and constituencies with government money and then raise your taxes because they’ve spent more than they were able to squeeze out of the economy.

Nearest to me, that pattern is evident in Maryland and Washington, D.C.: They look the other way at rising crime because they defunded the police and decriminalized conduct and then bemoan empty purses as people and businesses flee. They locked down their states and were surprised to learn that capped the revenue spigot. They made ridiculous, frivolous expenditures like bike lanes and street cars, and painting BLM on a major street and then can’t pay for necessities like cops, road repairs, and schools.

Maryland’s budget problems worsened Thursday with tax receipts failing to hit estimates for the fifth consecutive time since the pandemic ended. The news quickly ratcheted up the rhetoric among Democrats, who are divided on whether now is the time to raise taxes.

Democrats, who have controlled the State House for decades and usually deploy a united front, are ensnared in a behind-the-scenes fight over how to pay for policies...

[MtnClimber]

We need a bull in the china shop to clean out wasteful government.

[Tennessee Nana]

LOL

All in the Family theme

:)

[alexander_busek]

Not "Calvin Coolidge!"

"Mister, we could use a man like Hoybet Hoo-vah again!"

Regards,

[Liz]

Just one day after Biden was applauded for his State of the Union stump speech, he visited Delaware County, Pa for his first swing state campaign stop. But he revived question about his mental acuity by making several notable gaffes:

<><>”Pennsylvania, I have a message for you: Send me to Congress!” Biden shouted at one point.
<><>he unwittingly told the truth, “we added more to the national debt than any president in history.”
<><>Biden hopes to hang J6 on Trump but mistakenly referred to it as “July 6th.”

The gaffes show that aging Biden, 81, must continue to fight off bruising criticisms of his mental
fitness even as desperate Democrats were hoping he’d save them and their tenuous seats.

[Tennessee Nana]

Oh thats right

Whoops

[Tax-chick]

“If Javier Milei can pull Argentina out of the red, we can do it here.”

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I respect President Milei’s efforts so far, but publishing, or even passing, a single balanced budget is only one step in the long, long road of committing a country to fiscal discipline. Government fiscal discipline must be based on personal fiscal discipline.

[Openurmind]

“If Javier Milei can pull Argentina out of the red, we can do it here.”

ABSOLUTELY! Those who say it is too late and never going to happen are part of the problem. Of course it can, but we need to crack down on unproductive spending, like going to the moon or mars and thousands of other useless unproductive projects and agencies. And get out of the war and nation building business.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

"Mister, we could use a man like Hoybet Hoo-vah again!"

You DID mean that sarcastically, right?

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Coolidge had help from Andrew Mellon, his Treasury Secretary.

Would/could a present-day President be able to count on a banker for that kind of support?

[escapefromboston]

Coolidge had a pet raccoon which automatically puts him in top 5 presidents of the 20th century

[Aevery_Freeman]

<>"Government fiscal discipline must be based on personal fiscal discipline."<>

True, we must forgo sending profligate spenders to public office AND teach frugality to our children.

I blame, in large part, credit cards which allows one to temporarily live beyond one's means - a great detriment in personal or public life.

Hard times teach frugality so buckle up!

[Fiji Hill]

I Do Not Choose to Run--The Six Jumping Jacks (1928)

"I do not choose to run for president in 1928."--Calvin Coolidge, August 2, 1927

[rlmorel]

I am, personally, a huge fan of Calvin Coolidge.

I have read several biographies of him, and visited his museum and homestead at Plymouth Notch in Vermont, which is a great place to visit.

It was, even up to the time when Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as President in 1923 by a kerosene lamp in Plymouth Notch when Warren Harding died, a place that still lived in the past.

One of the things about Calvin Coolidge that I greatly admire, is that he went his own way. He did not seem to care one whit about what people thought of his manner of speech or appearance. When he was President and would visit Plymouth Notch, he took part in the traditional farm chores. And in doing this, he would don the traditional garb that he had used his entire life working on the farm, as shown below:

His advisors were horrified that he would be shown in a way that made him look like a backwards hick, but Coolidge did not care since that had been how he had spent much of his life, and the photographers were always trying to get a picture of him like that.

And it wasn't about show, about getting the press involved for political purposes. It was about the farming and the work, which even as President, he felt compelled to (and wanted to) help out in. But what I admire about him by far, and it is not even close, is the famous anecdote about a dinner party he attended as President where he was seated next to a socialite who was determined to drag the notoriously close-mouthed President into a conversation:

WEALTHY SOCIALITE: Good evening, Mr President! My husband told me I wouldn't be able to get three words out of you during the entire dinner! What do you say to that?

PRESIDENT COOLIDGE: You lose.

That says volumes about who Calvin Coolidge was. He was extremely intelligent and driven, and had a healthy sense of humor, but...he didn't believe in using his speech as a way to ingratiate or elevate himself.

Biden can't speak intelligently, and for good or bad, Trump cannot bite his tongue (appropriate for THESE times we live in!) but Coolidge, well, they didn't call him "Silent Cal" for nothing.

Can you imagine: a politician who didn't want to speak, and especially, not to speak about himself? The Horror!

[rlmorel]

LOL, I do think it was meant as a humorous correction to the “All In Family” introductory song which was sung by Archie and Edith...:)

(The lyrics specified Herbert Hoover, not Calvin Coolidge!)

[Tax-chick]

Good point. The habitual acceptance of debt personally leads to desensitization to what the country owes.

[Tennessee Nana]

I remember seeing a photo of Willard in 2012 where he is pretending to help cut up downed trees after a storm just for a photo op

The other guys are sweaty and grubby

Willard has clean shoes and shirt and hasnt a hair out of place

Plus someone pointed out he was holding the chain saw the wrong way or something...

[Tax-chick]

Thank you for the reminders!

[rlmorel]

LOL, reminds me of this:

[alexander_busek]

You DID mean that sarcastically, right?

I was merely quoting the lyrics of the song "Those Were the Days" - the theme song of the popular 1970s t.v. series "All in the Family" - which I assumed was being referenced here (though with the humorous substitution of "Calvin Coolidge" for "Herbert Hoover").

Regards,