[ProgressingAmerica]

If anybody wants on/off the revolutionary progressivism ping list, send me a message

Progressives do not want to discuss their own history. I want to discuss their history.

Yes, we did build that. We are a free people, and that's what free people do.

[caddie]

The Declaration and Constitution are living documents.

Just like our DNA is a living record and ongoing plan for what we are.

Change any of them at your peril.

Even small changes can be lethal.

[just me]

He said “It’s not broke don’t fix it”.. He was dubed as the biggest do nothing president in histroy.. But he really was one of our finest.. The golden era.. He didn’t trust the leauge of nations either. He said they didn’t have America’s best intrest at heart..

[w4women]

Can any Freeper recommend a good biography on this fine president?

[LearsFool]

This is something that progressives turn on it's head. They don't understand the relationship between Liberty and all that has made America great.

Coolidge isn't talking about the relationship between liberty and America's greatness, but about the worship of God and America's greatness. You have to read beyond the excerpt:

(The founders') intellectual life centered around the meeting-house. They were intent upon religious worship. While there were always among them men of deep learning, and later those who had comparatively large possessions, the mind of the people was not so much engrossed in how much they knew, or how much they had, as in how they were going to live. While scantily provided with other literature, there was a wide acquaintance with the Scriptures. Over a period as great as that which measures the existence of our independence they were subject to this discipline not only in their religious life and educational training, but also in their political thought. They were a people who came under the influence of a great spiritual development and acquired a great moral power.

No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.

[ShadowDancer]

One of the best we’ve had.

[OneWingedShark]

Thanks for posting this.

Coolidge is probably my second-favorite US president, the first being John Adams — both seem to really grow on you the more you find out about them.

[Marie Antoinette]

What a terrific post!

I would like to have study unit with my kids about Coolidge. If anybody has suggestions about materials/websites/books to employ in this study, I’m open. I have just about every other grade level. Only 3 at or above Jr. high level.

[chicken head]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5puwTrLRhmw