Taxed 2 Debt!

Real Men of Fiscal Genius: Calvin Coolidge

Yes, that post title is supposed to be sung in the mock-drama of Real Men of Genius.  However this is not a sarcastic post but one of respect of one of America’s heroes. 

We have to go way back here to a time when most of our grandparents were just being born, World War II had not even been thought of, and the economic collapse leading to the Great Depression was still a ways off–let’s head to 1924 and the administration of Calvin Coolidge. 

Unless you’re a history geek, you’ve probably heard the name but can’t think of a single act or policy that came out of CC’s administration.  There’s a reason for that–he was a conservative.  Our press and most current pop-history books being written by mostly liberal institutions won’t be focusing on him anytime soon because he believed in a laissez-faire application of government.  That type of economic thought is not a high priority with most educational institutions.  But regardless of those trying to forge, it’s important to see that in being a fiscal conservative,  he oversaw one of the most prosperous eras in our country’s history. 

After taking over for Harding who had died of a heart attack, Coolidge was not expected by the general public to be elected in the upcoming election.  It’s important to note that just before the Republican Convention began, Coolidge signed the Revenue Act of 1924, and the goal of this act was to decrease person income tax while increasing estate taxes and creating a gift tax.  Coolidge was nominated then won the general election outright. 

What followed is known as the Roaring Twenties.  Never before in the history of the United States had more people gained as much property and wealth and this was due to the laissez-faire policy of the administration: leaving regulation to the local governments and lowering personal income taxes.  The country flourished. 

A snippet from President Coolidge’s address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington D.C., January 29, 1925:

“After all, the chief business of the American people is business.  They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.” 

President Coolidge cut federal spending and lowered taxes– a lesson for us which shows it can be done.

He was a quiet man, and stated that in life brevity was of the utmost importance: “Above all things, be brief.”  His other favorite saying was “Do the day’s work.” 

He had other accomplishments not tied to fiscal conservatism but tied to great character: he stood for the civil rights of Catholics and African Americans, he freed those imprisoned under President Wilson’s Sedition Act, and he significantly raised the competence of diplomats and appointees to the court. 

This is what we need to be looking for in the upcoming elections, from top to bottom, be it Tea Party, Mad Hatter Tea Party, Republican, Democrat of Alien with Six Eyes party, this is what this country is going to need to get out of the current mess; i.e., giant federal debt, over-taxation, and politicians with significant character flaws. 

If it’s cool with Coolidge, it’s cool for our country.

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