You're right about "Silent Cal". Libertarians tried to dust off his reputation 10-12 years ago and got little traction. Unfortunately his administration was overshadowed by the crash in 1929 during Hoover's first year in office. Hoover and FDR's "legacy" is holy writ for the progressives, defended by an army of acolytes in academia and in dumpster-fire media.
But modern capital "L" Libertarians might not like Coolidge so much of they knew more about his because he violated some of their biggest shibboleths, the following passage is from page 164 of his autobiography:
"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."
Modern "L" Libertarians are all too eager to "dust off their sandals" at the slightest real or perceived dalliance with heresies. As such they'll never become electorally significant except as spoilers in ultra-tight races.
Perhaps Coolidge was more of a populist than is widely appreciated:-)
Relative to all actually seriously influential political actors today he was a super populist because Calvin Coolidge was a small "r" republican operating within a Republican Party that was a "r" republican party that was, while much less so than the Democratic Party, still actually a decentralized and publicly accessible mass-member party, and this party operated within a semi-politically decentralized, semi-economically decentralized, and semi-scientifically decentralized system.... so that was actual real true small "p" populism....
He’s my favorite because he was a fly fisherman…a line I couldn’t work in with much aplomb in this piece but there’s something in the success on the water that correlates to success in good governance. Thank you for reading this and sharing!
Calvin Coolidge was a small "r" republican operating within a Republican Party that was a small "r" republican party, and this party operated within a semi-politically decentralized, semi-economically decentralized, and semi-scientifically decentralized system; but the Republican Party has long been transformed into a small "c" conservative party*** and our broader system has become deeply politically, economically, and scientifically centralized. So Trump just cant be Coolidge, while he maybe able to do some good, absent intensive structural change, he's largely bound to doing what's effectively central planning that is largely driven by concentrated and powerful special interests groups, and those groups are a large share of the same ones that have been holding great power and decision making in our country for decades now.
*** And the Democratic Party has been long transformed from a small "d" democracy part into a small "t" technocracy party, which is even far more removed from its original values than conservativism is from republicanism!
You're right about "Silent Cal". Libertarians tried to dust off his reputation 10-12 years ago and got little traction. Unfortunately his administration was overshadowed by the crash in 1929 during Hoover's first year in office. Hoover and FDR's "legacy" is holy writ for the progressives, defended by an army of acolytes in academia and in dumpster-fire media.
No president is perfect…just better versions of bad. Cal is a favorite but he’s one of maybe 5
Jefferson
Tyler
Cleveland (term 1)
Coolidge
And there’s a case for JFK
The rest all have more issues than these. But it’s all at degree.
But modern capital "L" Libertarians might not like Coolidge so much of they knew more about his because he violated some of their biggest shibboleths, the following passage is from page 164 of his autobiography:
"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."
Modern "L" Libertarians are all too eager to "dust off their sandals" at the slightest real or perceived dalliance with heresies. As such they'll never become electorally significant except as spoilers in ultra-tight races.
Perhaps Coolidge was more of a populist than is widely appreciated:-)
Relative to all actually seriously influential political actors today he was a super populist because Calvin Coolidge was a small "r" republican operating within a Republican Party that was a "r" republican party that was, while much less so than the Democratic Party, still actually a decentralized and publicly accessible mass-member party, and this party operated within a semi-politically decentralized, semi-economically decentralized, and semi-scientifically decentralized system.... so that was actual real true small "p" populism....
He’s my favorite because he was a fly fisherman…a line I couldn’t work in with much aplomb in this piece but there’s something in the success on the water that correlates to success in good governance. Thank you for reading this and sharing!
Calvin Coolidge was a small "r" republican operating within a Republican Party that was a small "r" republican party, and this party operated within a semi-politically decentralized, semi-economically decentralized, and semi-scientifically decentralized system; but the Republican Party has long been transformed into a small "c" conservative party*** and our broader system has become deeply politically, economically, and scientifically centralized. So Trump just cant be Coolidge, while he maybe able to do some good, absent intensive structural change, he's largely bound to doing what's effectively central planning that is largely driven by concentrated and powerful special interests groups, and those groups are a large share of the same ones that have been holding great power and decision making in our country for decades now.
*** And the Democratic Party has been long transformed from a small "d" democracy part into a small "t" technocracy party, which is even far more removed from its original values than conservativism is from republicanism!