Coolidge and Lao Tze—Two Sides of the Same Libertarian Coin

Republican President Calvin Coolidge does not get a lot of press in history books, but he deserves more praise than most modern Presidents, even the celebrated Abraham Lincoln.

Consistent with the principles of modern conservatism, Coolidge adopted a laissez-faire attitude to governance when he took office after the death of President Warren G. Harding. He cut spending, cut taxes, and cut the government out of most decision-making. He appointed government officials who openly despised federal agencies, so much so that they did nothing. Businesses were allowed to profit or fail without government intervention, and the United States enjoyed a roaring economic recovery. Modern (liberal) historians will argue that Coolidge's inaction caused the Stock Market Crash of 1929, followed by the fifteen-year Great Depression. In fact, the rules of the free market, unfettered and fully enforced, would have expedited the much-needed market correction. President Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's interventionist policies prolonged a recession into a depression.

---

Coolidge remains one of the most underrated libertarian-Austrian-fiscal conservative Presidents in Modern American History. It is striking how harmonious Coolidge's views on statecraft and economics flow with the ancient thought of Lao-Tzu, a thinker whose precepts nurtured libertarian and laissez-faire thought long before Western economists pondered the value of less government, smaller states, and individual responsibility. Please enjoy the concord of President Coolidge's wit and wisdom with the paradoxical power of the Tao Te Ching. The values of the ancient and the modern meet in an eternal verity about the greater role of greater realities. "They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves." -- Calvin Coolidge "Make the earth a dwelling place. Cultivate the heart and mind. Practice benevolence. Stand by your word. Govern with equity Serve skillfully. Act in a timely way, Without contentiousness, Free of blame." -- Tao Te Ching "We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen." -- Calvin Coolidge "It's best to be like water, Nurturing the ten thousand things Without competing, Flowing into places people scorn, Very like the Tao." -- Tao Te Ching " 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. " -- Calvin Coolidge "People are starving Because those in high office Keep raising taxes paid in grain. So people go hungry." -- Tao Te Ching "Four-fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would only sit down and keep still." -- Calvin Coolidge "Thus the sage says,I practice doing nothing, And people transform themselves." -- Tao Te Ching "Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong." Calvin Coolidge "Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country." -- Calvin Coolidge "Therefore, the greater state lowers itself for the smaller. Small states that are lower Are governed by the great state." -- Tao Te Ching "No man ever listened himself out of a job." -- Calvin Coolidge "Therefore the sage knows himself Without parading it, Loves himself Without treasuring himself." -- Tao Te Ching "It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones." ― Calvin Coolidge "This country would not be a land of opportunity, America would not be America, if the people were shackled with government monopolies." -- Calvin Coolidge ""You have to stand every day three or four hours of visitors. Nine-tenths of them want something they ought not to have. If you keep dead-still they will run down in three or four minutes. If you even cough or smile they will start up all over again." -- Calvin Coolidge "This is called advancing without marching. Seize adversaries without arms or armor. Catastrophe awaits one who underestimates an adversary. Make light of an opponent And lose a treasure." -- Tao Te Ching "The President gets the best advice he can find, uses the best judgment at his command, and leaves the event in the hands of Providence." -- Calvin Coolidge "It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man." -- Calvin Coolidge "Therefore the sage knows himself Without parading it, Loves himself Without treasuring himself." -- Tao Te Ching "Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberality, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government. There are only two main theories of government in our world. One rests on righteousness and the other on force. One appeals to reason, and the other appeals to the sword. One is exemplified in the republic, the other is represented by despotism." -- Calvin Coolidge "Tao is the world's secret storehouse, Good people's treasure And a refuge for those who aren't [good]. Beautiful speech can find its market. Noble deeds can make a name. Why abandon people lacking dharma? [one's righteous duty, or any virtuous path, law] Thus, when the Son of Heaven is installed, Three ministers appointed, Jade discs for the heart presented, Followed by a team of four horses, They cannot equal the one who sits, Offering the Tao. The ancients had reason to treasure the Tao. Didn't they say, "Through Tao, the seeker finds, The guilty are forgiven"? Therefore it is the world's treasure." -- Tao Te Ching