Here goes a brick at a political hornets nest…Dr. Paul Miller of the University of Texas makes some reasoned points in this great piece at The Imaginative Conservative: above all, the reminder that the Founders constituted a limited government, endowed with counterbalancing energy and deliberation, along conservative – not libertarian – lines. If we want to become libertarians, we have to look elsewhere to a precedent that has never been to be enacted by a kind of human nature that only exists in Ayn Rand fiction.

Coolidge understood this distinction intended by the Founders and stands as one of the preeminent exemplifications of their ideals translated for modern America.

For, he said, of the Founding generation, “They knew, however, that self-government is still government, and that the authority of the Constitution and the law is still authority. They knew that a government without power is a contradiction in terms.” Then, he said, “To be independent to my mind does not mean to be isolated, to be the priest or the Levite, but rather to be the good Samaritan. There is no real independence save only as we secure it through the law of service.” Again, he said, “Much emphasis has been placed on our political independence. It has become one of our most fundamental traditions of government, and rightly so.” The Founders, Coolidge went on to say, however, “could not escape the conclusion that as the individual derives his liberty from an observance of the law, so nations derive their independence and perpetuate their sovereignty from an observance of that comity by which they are all bound. As modern developments have brought the nations closer and closer together, this conclusion has become more and more unavoidable. While the rights of the citizen have been in no wise diminished, the rights of humanity have been very greatly increased. Our country holds to political and economic independence, but it holds to cooperation and combination in the administration of justice…All sections have the same community of interests, both in theory and in fact, and they ought to have a community in political action. We can not deny that we are all Americans. To attempt to proceed upon any other theory can only end in disaster. No policy can ever be a success which does not contemplate this as one country. The principle that those who think alike ought to be able to act alike wherever they happen to live should supplemented by another rule for the continuation of the contentment and tranquility of our Republic. The general acceptance of our institutions proceeds on the theory that they have been adopted by the action of a majority. It is obvious that if those who hold to the same ideals of government fail to agree the chances very strongly favor a rule by a minority..Artificial propaganda, paid agitators, selfish interests, all impinge upon members of legislative bodies to force them to represent special elements rather than the great body of their constituency…Not only is this one country, but we must keep all its different parts in harmony by refusing to adopt legislation which is not for the general welfare.”

This regard for historical perspective and respect for the interests of all the people, through an incremental and measured advancement, is conservatism. Conservatives know change is constant but also know that drastic change hurts the most vulnerable people in society. It is for people then that conservatives work to slow the speed of change down so that those in the rear are not left behind. By keeping everyone moving forward together, civilization progresses. Rapid transformation and radical revolution leads to regression, at best, or collapse, at worst. Libertarianism may, and often does, have thoughts to contribute to public policy. Both sides can learn a great deal from one another but we are mistaken to makeover the historical record equating libertarianism with the principles espoused by Coolidge or what the Founders preserved for us and generations not yet born.

“I trust there may come a better appreciation of the necessary development of our life along these directions. They should be made to contribute to health, to broader appreciation of nature and her works, to a truer insight into the whole affair of existence. They should be the means of acquainting all of us with the wonders and delights of this world in which we live, and of this country of which we are the joint inheritors…I want to see all Americans have a reasonable amount of leisure. Then I want to see them educated to use such leisure for their own enjoyment and betterment, and the strengthening of the quality of their citizenship. We can go a long way in that direction by getting them out of doors and really interested in nature…Our country is a land of cultured men and women…It is a land of varied climes and scenery, of mountain and plain, of lake and river. It is the American heritage. We must make it a land of vision, a land of work, of sincere striving for the good, but we must add to all these, in order to round out the full stature of the people, an ample effort to make it a land of wholesome enjoyment and perennial gladness” — President Calvin Coolidge, addressing the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation, May 22, 1924.

“The practical application of economy to the resources of the country calls for conservation. This does not mean that every resource should not be developed to its full degree, but it means that none of them should be wasted. We have a conservation board working on our oil problem. This is of the utmost importance to the future well-being of our people in this age of oil-burning engines and the general application of gasoline to transportation” — Sixth Annual Message, December 4, 1928.

“Strange as it may seem, the American people, bred for many generations to forest life, drawing no small measure of their wealth from the forest, have not yet acquired the sense of timber as a crop. These immense stretches of cut-over land, mostly too rough or too sterile for tilling, have not awakened us to their vast potential worth as growers of wood. Fully one fourth of our land area ought to be kept in forest–not poor, dwindling thickets of scrub, but forests of trees fit for bridges and houses and ships. Handled by the best timber-cropping methods, our present forest lands could be made to grow even more timber each year than we now use. But much of our cut-over land, lying idle or half productive, is now an immeasurable loss. It pays little or no taxes, it keeps few hands busy, it turns few wheels, it builds no roads. Idle forest land has scrapped schools, factories, railroads, and towns; it has dotted the land with abandoned farms; it has created a migratory population. Our forest problem is a land problem of the first magnitude. It is likewise an industrial problem of great importance” — excerpt of Address before the National Conference on Utilization of Forest Products, November 19, 1924.

While the indefatigable Theodore Roosevelt, signed the American Antiquities Act of 1906 that enabled the establishment of national land preservation, his record of eighteen national monuments and three national parks, would, surprisingly, see the closest second not in his immediate successor, nor in the administrations of either Wilson or Harding. It would be the quietly competent man from Vermont who would stand in closest proximity to TR with twenty-four national monuments, parks, battlefields, and preserves. Yet, as these statements of Coolidge underscore, he believed in the use of property as an indispensable part of conservation. His deployment of the executive order, working hand-in-hand with his conservation authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act, illustrates this repeatedly during his five and a half years as President. Coolidge not only trimmed back the unnecessary acreage claimed for Yellowstone by predecessors (E. O. 4637), he trimmed back some of the Federal land claims he himself had approved, deeming them excessive on a second look (E. O. 4650). Not all land is best served sitting untended, unsettled, unused, Coolidge knew. This even meant adding land to be set aside, at times, like he did for Carlsbad Caverns (E. O. 4870). As such, it was not contradictory for Coolidge to oversee the return of certain lands to settlement and development while retaining legal ownership as public land, depending on the law and what circumstances required. He observed the dangers of rewarding private interests just as he recognized the threat of nationalizing everything. Both did not inherently serve the good of the country, as his predecessor’s mistakes had made clear. Nevertheless, Federal conservation did not preclude the use of that land by the states and the people. Government land ultimately belonged to the American citizen, after all. Coolidge held respectfully to the balance between law and liberty. Nevertheless, versed in history, he understood that the very essence of conservatism encompassed an important role for government in conservation. Just as handing large swaths of territory over to bureaucrats without lawful limits was irresponsible so would it be relegating our resources to unscrupulous developers in the name of “free” markets to become bargaining chips in the future. Either course was a betrayal of good government, including his oath, and a subordination of what was best for the whole people to the whims of a politically powerful few. To shut the door of opportunity on either resource development or public recreational enjoyment while rewarding particular friends with unchallenged access, no bid contracts and public money was morally repugnant, a flagrant waste and a contradiction of the obligation incumbent on government to observe economy — in all its forms.

In recognizing the twenty-four sites around America that he did, Coolidge was emphasizing more than the principle that conservation includes wise development. There was no replacement for what one gained from nature. The quiet discipline, he once noted, of the mountains and valleys, the rivers and lakes, hills and plains have a restorative power and profound impression on all of us. God’s world should be enjoyed and experienced. However, it was also significant that many of the places Coolidge would designate as national monuments secured importance for their pivotal place in human history. What was done there by brave and principled people made it worth honoring. What makes Coolidge’s Twenty-Four so impressive is that they encapsulate his characteristic balance — a healthy combination of his love for country and for his God. Together they are a celebration of America’s heroic meaning and the incomparable beauty of nature adorned by our Creator.

 

How many of the Coolidge Twenty-Four have you seen?

“Coming into your presence in ordinary times, gentlemen of the committee, I should be inclined to direct your attention to the long and patriotic services of our party, to the great benefits its policies have conferred upon this Nation, to the illustrious names of our leaders, to our present activities, and to our future party policy. But these are not ordinary times. Our country is at war. There is no way to save our party if our country be lost…

“We seek no party advantage from the distress of our country. Among Republicans there will be no political profiteering…

“We have fought before for the rights of all men irrespective of color. We are proud to fight now with colored men…

“The only hope of a short war is to prepare for a long one. In this work the States play a most important part…

“But America must furnish more than armies and navies for the future. If armies and navies were to be supreme, Germany would be right. There are other and greater forces in the world than march to the roll of the drum. As we are turning the scale with our sword now, so hereafter we must turn the scale with the moral power of America. It must be our disinterested plans that are to restore Europe to a place through justice when we have secured victory through the sword. And into a new world we are to take not only the people of oppressed Europe but the people of America. Out of our sacrifices and suffering, out of our blood and tears, America shall have a new awakening, a rededication to the cause of Washington and Lincoln, a firmer conviction for the right” — excerpts from Governor Calvin Coolidge’s speech before the Somerville Republican City Committee, August 7, 1918.