Liberty Maven

Calvin Coolidge was described as “a small government conservative”. A man who is regarded with delight from those who believe we should have freedom from government and with disdain from those that believe we should somehow find freedom with government. Coolidge was known to be a down to earth and direct Constitutionalist. He railed against fancy political rhetoric in favor of straight shooting talk. Perhaps it was because he realized he didn’t have the oratorical skill of his peers.

Today Ron Paul shares some of these similar traits. Paul is a throwback to Coolidge and several of the Constitution believing Presidents of the 19th century. There was apparently a major effort to get Coolidge to run for the Republican nomination in 1932 against the hugely unpopular Hoover. Coolidge chose not to run and ended up supporting Hoover that year. One wonders if Coolidge chose differently would we have ever had a President FDR? The “New Deal” would have been “No Deal”. The Great Depression would have possibly recovered sooner. It’s true we’ll never know, yet fun to play the “what if” game.

Check out this rather uncomfortable speech given by Coolidge. He certainly owns some of that Ron Paul style rhetoric. In fact, Ron Paul even seems to be a better speaker. Perhaps, Calvin Coolidge would be deemed a “Ron Paul Republican” today.