04 Jan America’s 250th Birthday – Rediscovering President Calvin “That is Final” Coolidge…and His Take on Mamdani’s Worldview
US President Calvin Coolidge is not particularly well known by the average American. As America moves forward in 2026(!) with the celebration of her 250th birthday, maybe he should become much more widely known. His wisdom and spiritually-minded perspective on the Declaration of Independence appear to be unique among American presidents.
One hundred years ago, President Coolidge spoke at a gathering to celebrate the Fourth of July. His observations are stunningly clear and powerful…and can be extraordinarily helpful to America if rediscovered and pondered in 2026.
Consider these words from Coolidge’s speech:
. . . About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. … If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.
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Our forefathers came to certain conclusions and decided upon certain courses of action which have been a great blessing to the world. Before we can understand their conclusions, we must go back and review the course which they followed. We must think the thoughts which they thought. Their 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. … They were a people who came under the influence of a great spiritual development and acquired a great moral power.
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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.
(bold and italics added)
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- “The things of the spirit come first.”
- “We must cultivate the reverence [the Founding Fathers] had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed.”
- “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.”
An American in 2026 might gasp at Coolidge’s observation in 1926 that Americans were then living “in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things.” What would he think of America in 2026!
But more importantly, what would Coolidge think of how well American leaders in 2026 are cultivating a reverence for things that are holy?
New York City in 2026 has a new mayor who has promised to govern as a ‘democratic socialist’, and to ‘replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism’.
President Coolidge would have denounced such thinking in a New York minute. “Frigidity of rugged individualism’? President Coolidge described the culture of the Founding Fathers this way:
“Their 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.
Men of great learning…intent upon religious worship…engrossed in how…they were going to live. These are not frigid, rugged individualists; these are pious (in the best sense of that word), humble and mature adult students of history and human nature—who understood the profound value of individual freedom and responsibility under God.
Coolidge accurately warned that ‘those who wish to proceed in [Mamdani’s] direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.’
Residents of New York City in 2026 are going to experience a rough wake-up call; there is likely to be upheaval and confusion and frustration and despair as they learn and re-learn the inevitable, dispiriting, dehumanizing, abject failure of socialism/collectivism of any flavor. They would do well to learn more about Calvin Coolidge’s wisdom and insight.
So would all Americans in the year of America’s 250th birthday.
Eric Georgatos