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Coolidge’s Almanack

     Here’s a thought for this Thanksgiving day, offered by
Calvin Coolidge on this date seventy eight years ago:
    “If at any time our rewards have seemed meager, we should
find our justification for Thanksgiving by carefully comparing
what we have with what we deserve.”
    Calvin’s observation raises the intriguing question of ‘what
we deserve.” In this day and age we take for granted living in a
country of freedom and opportunity, liberty and order, and,
despite the current economic crash, unprecedented prosperity.
What have we done to deserve this?
    Well, you and I may not have done a lot to deserve this, but
our ancestors of ten generations struggled and sacrificed for
three hundred years to produce the America we enjoy today.
We ought to be giving them a silent thank you on this day of
Thanksgiving, and make up our minds to improve on that legacy
for benefit of our own children and grandchildren.
    The quotation, incidentally comes from a very readable new
book, Silent Cal’s Almanack, the Homespun wit and
wisdom of Vermont’s Calvin Coolidge. It’s by David
Pietrusza, and you can get it at your bookstore or online. Here’
s another Coolidge maxim for the next legislature to keep in
mind:
"The property of the people belongs to the people. To take it
from them by taxation cannot be justified except by urgent
public necessity. Unless this principle be recognized our country
is no longer secure, our people no longer free.”
This is John McClaughry–thanks for listening.

Delivered on WDEV, Waterbury, Vermont, Thanksgiving
Day, November 27, 2008

John McClaughry has been President of the Ethan Allen
Institute since its founding in 1993. He was Legislative
Aide to Vermont Senator Winston Prouty, 1965-67; a
Fellow of the Institute of Politics, JFK School, Harvard
University, 1967-68; a member of the Vermont House,
1969-72; Senior Policy Advisor in President Ronald
Reagan's White House Office of Policy Development,
1981-82; member of the Vermont Senate 1989-92; and
Republican candidate for Governor of Vermont, 1992. He
has served on four Presidential Commissions by
appointment of Presidents Nixon, Carter, and Reagan,
and has been Kirby Town Moderator for the past 42 years.
List Price: $14.95

Order here.

ISBN:
1438245408

EAN13:
9781438245409

Page Count: 214

Binding Type:
US Trade Paper

Trim Size: 6" x 9"

Language: English

Color: Black and White

Related Categories:
History/Americas
Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge
"He wrote simply, innocently, artlessly," H. L. Mencken once noted regarding
Coolidge's prose, "He forgot all the literary affectations and set down his ideas
exactly as they came into his head. The result was a bald, but strangely appealing
piece of writing--a composition of almost Lincolnian austerity and beauty.
The true Vermonter was in every line of it."
"Great work!"
--George F. Will
"very readable"
--John McClaughry, The Ethan Allen Institute
"a very interesting book"   
--Dr. Paul Ibbetson

From Silent Cal:
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more
common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a
proverb."

"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he
gave."

"I am for economy. After that I am for more economy."

"Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery."

"There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, any time, anywhere."

"It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow."

"The business of America is business and the chief ideal of the American people is idealism. I
cannot repeat too often that America is a nation of idealists. That is the only motive to which
they ever give any strong and lasting reaction."

"I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save
people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the
Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the
more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more
abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form."

* * *
Paul A. Ibbetson interviews J. David Woodard, Ph.D., Dr. Hans Matata,
and David Pietrusza returns to discuss his book: Silent Cal's Almanack:
The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge on The
Conscience Of Kansas Radio Program on the Wildcat 91.9 FM -
www.IbbetsonUSA.com on 10-21-08